


Thaw

by Zinnith



Category: Original Work
Genre: Comic Book Science, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Time, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Past Abuse, Screwed up people doing their best, Superpowers, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 05:47:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 97,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2258061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zinnith/pseuds/Zinnith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick Vargas is a technopath with a shady past and plenty of baggage. After walking away from a life of crime and a destructive relationship, all he wants to do is stay out of trouble and mind his own business on the edges of the superhuman community. All is well until superhero wannabee Leo Harding enters his life and everything takes a turn for the complicated. Nick finds himself dragged back into the world he thought he’d managed to leave behind, and it turns out Leo has a few secrets of his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the deal. I wrote this novel for NaNo 2011 and I've been fiddling around with it since then, trying to turn it into something publishable. I don't know if _that's_ even going to happen, but I kind of want to share it with the world anyway, so here you are. 
> 
> Constructive criticisim is very welcome. I hope you'll find this world and these characters worth your time.
> 
> /Zin
> 
> Please check the end notes for trigger warnings!

Nights like this, Nick was more than ready to re-evaluate his choice of hangout venues. The Showroom was busier than usual for a weeknight and there were plenty of new faces in the crowd. Someone clearly needed to have a word with the DJ about variety because she had played the same ear-numbing techno all night. Nick hunkered at the end of the bar while he slowly shredded the label of his beer bottle. He hadn’t drunk more than half of it but the remaining beer had already gone warm and flat and was less than appetizing. The back of his neck was itching, like someone was watching him. Judging by all the new people who were slowly but steadily trickling in the door, someone probably was. 

In hindsight, it had been a bad idea to come here tonight, but the workshop hadn’t been able to hold Nick’s attention. Both his apartment and his own skin had felt too small and constricted for a solitary evening. Now that he was here, he didn’t feel much better. The low background hum from the DJ’s equipment, the cash registers, the multitude of cellphones in the locale, and the computers in the back office were getting more and more insistent. Nick turned the bottle over in his hands. He was losing his focus.

Usually, he felt more at ease at the bar. It was a place where people in the neighborhood could come and be themselves. There was no need to pretend to be anything else than what you were. Tonight, however, the atmosphere was different. There was a niggling tension in the air, a whisper of trouble in the making. 

The door opened and another small group of people stepped inside. Nick frowned. More outsiders. You could always tell if someone belonged here or not, and these kids didn’t. They looked like college students; four young women in club wear. They all had looks of excitement and curiosity on their faces and stayed close to each other, as if they were scared of being overtaken if they strayed from the herd. 

They weren’t the only ones. Here and there, people stood in small groups, drinking and talking, trying not to stare too overtly at the more eye-catching regulars. Two of the girls who had just walked in were pointing at the dance floor, clearly very intrigued by a couple of fliers who preferred to dance a few feet above the floor. 

The itch at the back of Nick’s neck got worse. Someone _was_ watching him, and not just in the rude manner of the other gawkers. Someone was watching _him_. He turned on the barstool, let his eyes search the room for anything out of the ordinary.

There, in the back. A blond man, leaning against the wall, both hands in his pockets. At first glance, he looked normal, but so did Nick. He didn’t seem to have any company that Nick could see. Another nosy outsider, or a legitimate newcomer?

The moment their eyes met, the other man looked away. Nick gave him a quick once-over. He had a corn-fed, wholesome look about him, not exactly the kind of person you’d expect to find in a place like this. 

“That guy has been checking you out all night,” Alyssa said, right into Nick’s ear. “He’s hot.”

He turned around with a scowl. She loved sneaking up on him and right now she was leaning halfway over the bar counter to get close enough that he could hear her. A beam of UV light swept over the bar and made the beads on the end of her long black braids and the Showroom logo on her t-shirt turn fluorescent purple for a moment before they were back to white.

Nick glanced back over his shoulder, giving the stranger another look. “I guess so. If you like the well-scrubbed type.”

“Aren’t you a ray of sunshine tonight?” Alyssa took his half-empty bottle and swept the paper shreds off the counter. “Another one?” 

Nick shrugged. “Why not?” He was probably not going to drink that one either, but he needed something to do with his hands. 

Alyssa turned around and put just enough force into her voice to be heard over the music and the buzz of conversation at the bar. “Ev! Throw me a Heineken, will you?”

Everett was mixing a drink a few steps away. He turned his head and winked, while the beer fridge behind his back opened and a green bottle came sailing through the air, seemingly on its own accord. Alyssa snatched it, twisted the cap off, and put it down in front of Nick. A couple of girls at the counter laughed and applauded and Ev gave them another wink, accompanied by a jovial smile. The coloured lights danced over his bald head.

“Show-off,” Alyssa muttered under her breath.

Nick picked up the bottle and took a sip and then motioned at the girls with his head. “What’s with all the tourists tonight? Usually we get one or two. I’m starting to feel like an exhibit at the zoo.”

Alyssa sighed and rolled her eyes. “The Maroon did a piece on us yesterday so now we can expect a flood of students who want to observe ‘citizens with special abilities’ in their natural habitat.” There was still a hint of a Southern drawl in her voice despite all the years she’d lived in Chicago.

Nick snorted. “Someone’s gonna get punched before the night is over.” Some of the regulars were already beginning to look uncomfortable with the unwelcome attention. Add alcohol to the mix, and it was a disaster in the making.

“Let’s just hope it’s someone who deserves it.” Alyssa threw her hair back over her shoulder and started wiping down the counter in front of Nick while looking out at the crowd over his head. “Hey, look who your secret admirer’s talking to.”

With another glance back, Nick noticed that the blonde man was now conversing with a red-haired woman in worn jeans and combat boots. She was clearly agitated, waving her arms around in short, clipped motions. From the way she kept glaring in Nick’s direction, there was no doubt about who the subject of the conversation was. 

“Guess that’ll make him lose interest,” Nick muttered to himself. No one who spent more than ten minutes in Felicia Carr’s company could avoid learning about her feelings about Nick. 

Alyssa scowled. “She oughta mind her own business.” She started collecting empty glasses and bottles from the bar where people had left them. 

“She’s not wrong,” Nick said philosophically, taking another pull of his beer. Felicia was harmless, a self-appointed social justice queen looking for causes wherever she could find them. But Nick’s attention kept going back to the blond man who was now listening to the tirade with a blank expression. “You seen him around here before?” Nick asked Alyssa, curious against his will. 

She cocked her head to the side with a faint rattle of beads. “Once or twice.” She pursed her generous lips and frowned. “I think he’s new. From what I’ve heard, he’s some kind of do-gooder.” 

“He looks like it.” Nick didn’t turn around this time. No reason to give the blond stranger the impression that his interest was returned. “Do you think he’s trouble?”

Neither of them said it out loud, but they both knew the kind of trouble Nick was referring to. In this neighborhood, there were two kinds of unwanted attention you could attract. There were the cops and there was... the other side. Nick didn’t even want to think the name from fear of jinxing himself. That life was behind him now, no matter what Felicia Carr liked to tell people. 

Alyssa gave him a sidelong glance. “I don’t know. He’s friendly and he’s nice and he likes to ask a lot of questions but as far as I know, he hasn’t done anything stupid yet. That, and he has a fine ass.”

Nick choked on his beer and had to cough before he could continue. “What has _that_ got to do with anything?”

“You asked if he was trouble, didn’t you?” Alyssa shot him a wide grin. “In your case, I’d say a fine ass constitutes trouble. “ She demonstratively looked past Nick and breathed a dreamy theatrical sigh. “Yeah, a _very_ fine ass. I bet he’s got a nice pair of shoulders under that sweatshirt too.”

It was tempting to raise to the bait and sneak another look to see if she was right, but Nick managed to resist with a feat of willpower that even impressed himself. Instead, he looked down the length of the bar where Ev was entertaining a small crowd by mixing drinks hands-free. Glasses, liquor bottles and a few lime fruits were circling in the air around his head while he waved his fingers around as if conducting an orchestra. One after the other, the finished drinks landed on the bar counter in front of the guests. Ev had always been something of a showman and he was clearly enjoying the attention. Nick had no doubt it would earn him a few tips. The era of the freak-shows was apparently not over yet.

There was a small rush of customers to the bar and Alyssa had to busy herself serving drinks the old fashioned way. Nick dared a furtive glance back over his shoulder to see what had happened to the blond stranger, but he had disappeared into the crowd. There was no sign of Felicia either. Maybe they had left together? 

Nick felt a brief pang of disappointment at the thought, and chased it away with a swallow of beer. It wasn’t like he’d been interested to begin with. Considering his usual luck with men, it was probably best to just keep to himself and stay as far out of trouble as possible, whether the trouble in question had a fine ass or not. Besides, nothing happened in this part of Chicago without Fabian finding out about it. If word got around that Nick had hooked up with someone new, nothing good would come out of it.

Maybe the best thing would have been to leave town altogether. He could have moved away and started over somewhere else. But Fabian had a long reach. Nick doubted his new life would have lasted very long. 

The arrival of a small group of tourists at Nick’s end of the bar was almost a relief. He banished every thought of Fabian Frost from his mind and instead directed all his annoyance at the young man who plopped down on the empty bar stool next to his, splashing some beer on Alyssa’s meticulously cleaned counter. His two companions, a man and a woman around the same age, kept their distance, possibly because they hadn’t had quite as much to drink. They were clearly students. The kid who had appropriated the usually empty seat next to Nick was wearing a University of Chicago t-shirt, and they were all drinking the cheapest beer the Showroom had in stock.

The kid leaned in closer and Nick got a fresh whiff of his alcohol soaked breath. “You know,” he said. “I never heard about this place before. It’s kind of freaky, isn’t it?” He pointed over at where Ev was deftly slicing up limes suspended in the air in front of him.

Earlier, Nick had predicted that someone was going to get punched before the night was over. This kid had just become a prime candidate.

“I wouldn’t use the f-word around here if I were you,” he said. If people heard an outsider flinging that kind of language around, fists were going to fly.

The kid held up his hands in mock deference. “Whoa, no need to jump down my throat, man. Can’t you people take a joke?”

One of his companions, a black kid with thick-framed hipster glasses, seemed to have picked up on Nick’s dark look because he reached out and punched his friend in the shoulder. “Come on, Kevin, don’t be an asshole,” he said. 

Kevin didn’t seem to be in the mood to heed that very sensible suggestion. Nick couldn’t help but feel a bit amused at the situation. If any of these kids had been sober, they would hopefully have questioned the wisdom in approaching the guy who sat by himself at the end of the bar, the one everyone else seemed to be giving a wide berth.

The girl in the group leaned forward, giving Nick a detailed view of her cleavage. He wondered if she realised how wasted it was on him. “So, can you do any cool tricks like he does?” she asked, pointing at Ev. 

“Julie! Come on, stop it, you two!” the black kid exclaimed. He turned to Nick and held out his hand. “I’m sorry, they’re idiots. I’m Austin, by the way. Austin Foreman. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Dominic Vargas,” Nick said and shook the offered hand, a little curious to see if the name would get a reaction. Austin didn’t seem to recognise it, and neither did the other two. Of course not. They looked like good kids who stayed on the right side of the law. This little excursion to the Showroom was probably the most risque thing they had done this year. 

“Can we like, buy you a drink or something?” Austin asked. His eyes were wandering nervously, never quite meeting Nick’s. 

Nick held up his half-finished beer. “I’m good.”

“All right.” Austin swallowed. “That’s okay, that’s cool, man.“ There was a pause while the kid seemed to be searching for words, but then he blurted out the question, “ _Do_ you have any abilities?” 

Nick fought the urge to roll his eyes. He’d actually held some hopes for this one. Well, he could at least reward a good try.

“You want to see a trick?” he asked, and flashed them the smile Alyssa had once described as ‘too damn _toothy_ ’. “I’ll show you a trick.”

The forefinger-to-temple gesture wasn’t necessary, but if Everett could put on a show, so could Nick. Every single person around the bar had a cell phone and once he’d found them all, it was easy to reach out and set off a dozen alarms at once. The shrill beeping was almost loud enough to drown out the music and the phone owners all frantically reached for their pockets and purses, scrambling to turn the alarms off, some of them to loud curses and exclamations of, “What the hell?”, “Damn it!”, and “Screw you, Vargas!”

Kevin was howling with laughter and swaying on his bar stool and Austin’s face was a wide-eyed mix of astonishment and wariness. Julie preened closer, put a too-intimate hand on Nick’s arm and breathed, “That was amazing!”

The grumbling around the bar died down and Alyssa came walking over, her expression fuming. 

“Enjoying yourself?” she asked, hands at her hips and glaring daggers.

Nick spread his hands in the most innocent gesture he could manage. “The kids came to see the circus. Couldn’t let them leave without a show.” 

Alyssa didn’t look the least amused. “All right, you,” she pointed at Kevin. “You’re cut off, mister, and you deserve every second of the hangover you’re gonna have tomorrow.” She turned to Julie. “You, can you seriously not see that this man is gay? He doesn’t want any groupies and if he did, he wouldn’t be interested in you.” Austin shrank as her glare moved over to him. “And you better take your friends home before you piss off the wrong person. Now get out of here, this ain’t a carnival.”

The kids looked at each other in fear and then quickly put down their drinks and left the bar. Nick hid a grin behind his hand. It might not have been a smart thing to do, but it had been _fun_ and fun hadn’t been overly abundant in his life of late.

“That was stupid,” Alyssa said, cleaning away the glasses and bottles and the beer Kevin had spilled. “They’ll tell that story all over and we’ll have a whole invasion of people just like them for the next week. I’m tired of being looked at like I’m a freak.”

“It’s not like they won’t come anyway,” Nick muttered. He was still receiving dark looks from the other regulars at the bar. His little trick had been mostly harmless, but it had been a reminder of what he _could_ do. For anyone else, it wouldn’t have been much of a problem, but when your name was Nick Vargas and everyone knew what you had done in the past and who you had done it with, it was a different matter altogether. No matter how hard he tried, he was never going to be able to leave that part of his life behind.

Alyssa sighed and threw her hair back again. “I guess so. You know, your life would be so much simpler if you wasn’t so easily bored.”

“Guilty,” Nick agreed and toasted her with his beer. He took a sip, found that it had gone off, and put it down. Alyssa took the bottle and poured it out and Nick raised a wounded eyebrow. “What, are you cutting me off too?”

“I don’t think you have to worry about a new drink,” Alyssa said, sending a significant glance over Nick’s shoulder. “Here comes trouble. I’ll just scram, shall I? Have fun!”

Nick turned around just in time to wipe his face of any surprise that might have showed there and found himself in very close vicinity to the blond stranger who had been watching him earlier. 

Up close, Nick could see that he did have very nice shoulders indeed, broad and muscular and stretching the fabric of his plain blue sweatshirt. He had an open, earnest face with a faint dusting of freckles scattered over his nose and cheeks, and he looked like he ought to have ‘good guy’ stamped on his forehead.

“That was an impressive demonstration,” he said. The accent was decidedly Mid-west, not native to Chicago but more rural. He held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Leo Harding. Call me Leo.”

Nick took it. It was a very warm hand and the grip was strong. “Dominic Vargas.” 

“Dominic. Y’know, that’s a mouthful. Is it okay if I call you Dom? I’ve heard about you.”

Ah, there it came. Was this the point where he was supposed to offer up a good justification of his actions, or had this Leo Harding already judged him unheard? Not that it mattered.

“You can call me Nick, if you must. So if you already know everything there is to know about me, why are you standing here?” 

Leo shrugged and took the seat the drunk kid Kevin had vacated. He waved his hand at Ev and, as if on cue, two fresh beer bottles came floating over. 

“I prefer to make up my own mind about people,” Leo said and carefully picked up his beer. “You’re a technopath, right? Is it just cellphones or do you do other stuff too?”

Nick did his best not to look surprised. He hadn’t expected this man to be part of the community. “Pretty much anything electronic,” he said, before he had time to stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth. Good job. Telling a complete stranger everything about your abilities wasn’t smart even under the best circumstances.

“Bet that comes in handy.” Leo drank some beer. “Is it acquired or were you born with it?” 

“Acquired.” Everyone already knew about that, so no harm in telling him. Nick hooked a finger around the neck of his own beer bottle and pulled it over, silently contemplating if it was even worth drinking. He’d lost the taste for it. “What about you?”

Leo made a dismissive little motion. “I was born with my thing. It isn’t much.”

Nick nodded slowly. He was not going to ask. It was probably going to turn out to be something stupid, like being able to talk to fish, or having the power to walk backwards really fast. People turned up here all the time with silly little abilities like that, eager to be a part of the new and exciting super powered community. If he asked, he was going to be disappointed, that was the way the world worked. Leo didn’t seem to be forthcoming with information about his abilities either, which was another clue that it was something inconsequential. 

“What brings you down here, then?” Nick asked. He fiddled with his beer and started picking at the label again. Alyssa was going to be annoyed, but annoying Alyssa was old news by now.

Leo smiled. He had a pleasant smile, Nick noted. It was wide and a little bit crooked, with just a hint of self-deprecation. Nick got the feeling that Leo probably was the kind of person who made fun of himself a lot. 

“Nothing much. I just like to help out where I can, y’know. Read in the papers that there was some trouble happening around here, so I thought I’d come and see for myself.”

Nick put the bottle down and pushed it away, suddenly wary of accepting anything at all from this guy. “Alyssa said you were a do-gooder,” he said. “Listen, no one’s gonna thank you for sticking your nose in. The cops around here don’t like vigilantes and you do _not_ want to attract the attention of Fabian Frost, trust me on that.” 

“Yeah?” 

That seemed to have caught Leo’s interest. Nick silently cursed himself for mentioning Fabian’s name at all. But Leo looked painfully young and more than a little naive. Someone ought to give him at least a warning. What he chose to do after that was none of Nick’s business.

“Is it true that Frost owns this neighborhood?” Leo’s blue eyes were bright and attentive, hanging onto every word out of Nick’s mouth. “I heard he ran the other families out of town.”

“The less you know about him the better.” Nick wanted out of this conversation. He’d come here tonight to _avoid_ having to think about Fabian. 

Leo had a slightly wounded expression on his face. “I can look after myself,” he said. “I’m just curious. I’ve heard people talking.”

Yeah, Nick bet he had. He knew exactly what they had been saying. It looked like it was time for him to leave. Getting down from the stool, he left enough change on the counter to pay for the drinks and said, “Yes, I used to work for Fabian Frost. And in case you’ve listened to the really juicy gossip, yes, I used to sleep with him too. I haven’t had anything to do with him for the past thirteen months, and I think this is the end of the conversation. Good night.”

Walking away from the bar, Nick wished he hadn’t checked his coat when he arrived earlier in the evening. If he’d had it already, he could have just left and walked right out into the street. As it was, he was not stupid enough to brave the Chicago winter in his shirtsleeves. His apartment wasn’t far away, but even a few blocks’ walk would be enough to risk hypothermia. 

Nick’s usual luck held true. There was a line to the coat check and he couldn’t just collect his jacket and breeze out. He didn’t look back to check for Leo’s reaction or see if the man was following him, even though a small part of him wanted to. Alyssa was going to wonder what had happened. He clutched his coat ticket, willing the line to move quickly so he could just get out of here and go home. 

Just as he had reached the coat check counter, Nick felt a large, warm hand on his shoulder and didn’t even have to turn around to see who it was. 

“Don’t touch me, please,” he said, still not turning his head. Instead, he gave the girl behind the counter a strained smile and handed her the ticket. She scurried off to get his coat and he dug around in his wallet for a tip.

The hand disappeared and left a patch of strangely heated skin in its wake. “Sorry about that,” Leo said. “I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s well within your right to be angry.”

“I’m not upset,” Nick lied. The girl arrived with his black pea-coat and he took it and handed her a bill in return. “I know you’re new around here, but if you really want to be known as someone who helps people, you don’t want to be seen around me. Just a bit of advice.”

“Guilt by association?” Leo sidled up beside him. He didn’t seem to have a jacket to check out, or if he had, he was leaving it behind to follow Nick out of the Showroom. “I don’t think so. You said you’re not with Frost anymore and I believe you.” He made a motion as if to grab Nick’s shoulder again and then seemed to think better of it and let his hand fall to his side. “Look, forget about it, I won’t ask any more about that, okay? If you don’t want to talk about it, fine.”

Nick opened the door and stepped outside. It must just have started snowing because the street was coated in a thin layer of white. It was cold and the snowflakes were tiny and sharp against their faces. Nick dug around in his coat pocket after his gloves. Leo didn’t seem to feel the cold at all.

“Just so you know,” Nick said, putting his leather gloves on. “If you follow me home, I _won’t_ keep you.”

Leo stared at him for a split moment and then he started to laugh. Nick forced himself not to notice how it lit up his face. 

“All right, fair enough,” Leo said at last. “This is why I shouldn’t try to hit on people in bars, I always make an ass out of myself.”

Nick blinked in surprise, and then slowly schooled his features into an expression of blank disinterest. “I recently got out of a complicated relationship,” he said, deadpan. “It’s not you, it’s me, etcetera etcetera.”

Leo laughed again. “Point taken. I won’t bother you again. Sorry.”

People were spilling out of the club. Nick briefly thought about waiting for Alyssa to close up and invite himself over to her place, but it was cold outside and she had worked a long shift and was going to be tired. Leo had turned his head and was watching a group who had just stepped outside. Nick recognised at two of them - Kevin and Julie. He wondered where Austin was and came to the conclusion that the kid must have failed to drag his friends home and left without them. 

Kevin was swaying and it looked like the arm he had wrapped around Julie’s shoulders was the only thing keeping him upright. Either he had managed to get someone to sell him more beer, or he’d already been so drunk that Alyssa’s cut-off hadn’t made a difference. Julie was shivering in her thin dress and looked tired and unhappy. The evening clearly hadn’t worked out the way she’d expected. Nick could sympathise.

From the look of it, Kevin’s level of inebriation hadn’t made him more quiet, quite the opposite. He was happily chatting to everyone within earshot, completely oblivious to the more and more irritated looks he was getting from the regulars. Tempers had been running high all night and now, outside the club and away from Everett and Alyssa’s watching eyes, things were coming to a head. 

Nick hunched a little deeper into his coat. The cold was already gnawing on his toes and the crowd was beginning to make him feel uneasy. He had no intention of staying to watch the imminent disaster. Very soon, someone was going to run out of patience with the belligerently drunk kid. 

Just when Nick had decided to turn around and leave, the door to the club opened and Lonnie Leblanc stepped outside. He was dressed in nothing but a t-shirt that was stretched so tight that it looked like he was going to burst out of it. The snowflakes that landed on his impressively muscled arms quickly melted. Damn. Nick hadn’t even noticed that Lonnie had been at the Showroom tonight. He must have kept out of sight. 

Julie was pulling on Kevin’s arm, obviously trying to convince him that it was time to leave, but he was making a nuisance of himself, struggling against her. 

One of the regulars who were leaving turned his head around 180 degrees to see what the racket was, and when Kevin caught sight of that, he made wide eyes and pointed at the guy, shouting, “Whoa, Julie, look at that freak!”

The street went dead silent. Nick closed his eyes and sighed. He supposed it had been inevitable. After all, he’d already picked Kevin out of the crowd as Most Likely to be Beaten Up before the night was over. 

Lonnie Leblanc’s presence, however, complicated things. The moment Kevin uttered the words, Lonnie’s head whipped around and he loomed closer to the poor stupid kid. His sheer size and multiple tattoos was enough for everyone to inch away from the confrontation. His reputation helped. 

One second, Kevin was busy with a clumsy attempt to try to get his arm out of Julie’s grasp. The next, Lonnie had him backed up against the wall, one massive hand in a tight grip around his neck, lifting him off the ground. Kevin struggled, his legs kicking wildly, but Lonnie didn’t let up.

Nick felt sick. He knew exactly what Lonnie was capable of, had seen the results with his own eyes. Kevin had deserved a beating, yes, but no matter how much of a nuisance he was, he didn’t deserve to die for it.

Then, to Nick’s horror, Leo cracked his knuckles and took a step forward. Nick reached out a hand to hold him back, but Leo shook it off like he hadn’t even felt it. 

Kevin’s struggles were weakening, all the fight draining out of him. A few feet away, Julie was watching with her hands clasped over her mouth to keep a silent scream in. Her make-up was smeared with tears.

Lonnie was so concentrated on the sight of the life slowly draining out of his victim that he didn’t notice Leo walking up to him until he was close enough to touch.

“Leave him alone,” Leo said. 

Lonnie turned his head slowly, brows furrowed in puzzlement, like he couldn’t believe someone had dared speak to him. “What did you say?”

“Leave him alone,” Leo repeated, stepping closer. “The kid is drunk, he doesn’t know what he’s saying.” 

Lonnie frowned and let go of Kevin’s neck. He fell to the ground where he slumped over, clawing at his throat and struggling to draw breath.

“Do you know who I am?” Lonnie asked. He turned to face Leo, fists opening and clenching at his sides.

Leo’s eyes went from Lonnie’s face, to Kevin’s coughing, gasping form on the ground, and back again. “From where I’m standing, it looks like you’re someone a lot bigger and stronger than him. Maybe you should pick on someone your own size?”

Wrong thing to say. Nick turned his head and closed his eyes. He’d stick his fingers in his ears if he thought it’d help. Leo was going to get _crushed_. He wasn’t a small guy, but compared to Lonnie, he looked like a lightweight. 

The crowd held its collective breath. Nick heard heavy footsteps in the snow, the sound of rustling fabric, and then a low, surprised grunt.

When Nick dared open his eyes again, Lonnie was the one with his back to the wall. Leo had a forearm pressed against his barrel-like chest and seemed to have him pinned in place with very little effort. Lonnie was using all his not inconsiderable strength trying to get loose, but to no avail. 

So, not talking to fish then.

No one was moving a finger to help either of the two and Nick didn’t blame them. You did not want to cross Lonnie Leblanc, and Leo was an unknown variable. Things seemed to be at an impasse.

Leo turned his head and looked at Nick. “Would you mind?” he asked, nodding at Kevin, who hadn’t managed to get up from the ground. “I’m a little busy here.”

All eyes turned to Nick. He felt like he was trapped in the headlights of a runaway truck and wished for a split second that he could have managed to give himself an ability that would be more useful in situations like this, like teleportation or invisibility. Seeing how that wasn’t possible, he choked on a groan, clenched his jaw, and walked over to Kevin.

“Come on,” he said, fisting both hands in the kid’s collar and hauling him to his feet. “Get up.” Kevin was heavy, but once he was upright, he managed to find his balance. He was still breathing a little funny and a bruise was already forming around his neck.

Nick turned to Julie. “Get out of here, now,” he said. “Get him to a hospital to get checked out, and stay away in the future.”

He gave Kevin a push in her direction and he stumbled over, after sending Nick a fearful look, like he was expecting to be assaulted all over again. Julie caught her friend, grabbed his arm, and dragged him away through the crowd.

The most pressing issue taken care of, Nick turned his attention back to the two men by the wall. He wondered what Leo was planning to do now. The moment he let go of Lonnie, the great big hulk was going to come for him, and once Lonnie had his eyes set on violence, he was pretty much unstoppable. There was a reason for why Fabian liked him.

“Okay,” Leo said. “I’m going to let you go now, and we’re all going to walk away. All right?”

“Bad idea,” Nick muttered under his breath. Leo didn’t seem to hear him, or he just wasn’t listening.

Some of the onlookers were following Kevin and Julies example and were leaving. The rest were watching with some kind of fascinated horror as Leo shifted his weight, preparing to loosen his hold on Lonnie.

Right then, the door to the club slammed open and Everett stepped outside. Two empty liquor bottles and a sharp kitchen knife was circling his head, and the spectators closest to the door hurriedly stepped aside to let him through. Behind him, Alyssa followed, holding the baseball bat from the back office in a practiced grip. 

“Break it up,” Ev said, his voice low and deceptively calm. In all the years Nick had known him, he’d very rarely heard the man raise his voice. 

Leo raised an eyebrow. Then he shrugged, lowered his arm, and stepped away. The moment he let up, Lonnie surged forward with a roar. 

Then, he stopped short in his tracks when the kitchen knife Everett had held suspended zipped through the air and came to a stop just a few inches away from Lonnie’s right eye.

“I don’t care who you work for,” Ev said. “If you start shit in my bar, you better be prepared to face the consequences.”

Lonnie scowled, red in the face with barely suppressed rage. For a moment, Nick was convinced that he was going to make a grab for Leo anyway, despite the certain bodily harm it would result in. Then, to Nick’s relief, Lonnie took a step back, sneered wordlessly at Leo, turned on his heel and stalked away.

Alyssa slunk over to Nick, still brandishing the bat. “Did that just happen?” she whispered. 

Nick nodded slowly, somewhat shell shocked. He couldn’t quite believe that everyone had made it out of the situation alive and more or less unharmed. 

“Wow.” Alyssa let out a low whistle. “Your new boyfriend is pretty tough.”

“Not my new boyfriend,” Nick said on autopilot. 

He’d known Lonnie for years and he’d never before met anyone able to match him when it came to pure physical power. And Leo had referred to his own abilities as ‘nothing much’. The thought of that kind of strength sent a sharp little thrill through Nick’s body and he did his very best to ignore it. 

“Thanks for the assist,” Leo told Everett, grinning widely. He looked like he had no clue just how many problems he’d just brought on himself. 

Ev’s expression was completely unamused. “Same rules goes for you, superhero,” he said. “We don’t want any trouble around here.” He turned around and walked back into the club. The knife and the empty bottles trailed behind him, like mylar balloons tied to little pieces of string.

One after the another, the crowd trickled away into the night, until only Nick, Alyssa, and Leo were still standing on the street. The snow was coming down more heavily now and the wind had picked up.

“Congratulations,” Nick said, sarcasm dripping with every word. “You just turned up on Fabian Frost’s radar.”

Leo looked worryingly unconcerned.


	2. 2

Chapter 2

When Nick woke, it was still snowing. He turned his head on the pillow, looking out of the bedroom window. The flakes were a little smaller now, but from the looks of it, it was going to be a pain to go outside today. At least he didn’t have any errands to run. 

It was almost noon. He’d slept longer than usual, but he’d also gone to bed late. He’d been far too wired to sleep when he’d come home from the bar last night and had spent a few hours tinkering in his workshop to calm himself down a bit before he went to bed. He hadn’t crashed until the small hours in the morning when he’d been too tired to keep his eyes open any longer, and when he finally fell asleep, his dreams had been uneasy.

Nick turned over on his back and stared up at the ceiling. It was warm and cozy under the comforter and he knew from experience that the floor would be unbearably cold against his bare feet. He’d considered getting underfloor heating more than once, but there was, as always, the money issue. It was only an issue because Nick allowed it to be. In theory, he could easily get the money. But he knew that if he used his ability to funnel illicit funds into his bank account, he wouldn’t have the conscience to enjoy the feeling of warm feet in the morning. Fabian had showered him in luxury and comfort during their time together, and while Nick had appreciated it on a practical level, he’d always felt slightly uncomfortable deep down, knowing where the money had come from.

He pushed away the thoughts of Fabian, smothering a curse. It was probably Fabian’s fault that he was so sensitive to cold anyway. After he’d finally found the guts to walk away, he’d spent three days shivering on Alyssa’s couch, huddled in blankets, trying desperately to get the ice out of his bones. 

It still lingered some days and Nick had made a habit of always wearing socks and sweaters around the apartment and the workshop. 

Tempting as it was to stay in bed and laze away the rest of the day, he was going to have to get up. There was still work to be done, and he knew that if he used the snow as an excuse to bury himself in bed and go back to sleep, he’d have to go into hibernation until the winter was over.

Nick threw the covers away and shivered as the cold air hit his skin. He managed to hold back a yelp as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and put his feet down. He quickly rummaged through the wardrobe for clean clothes and then hurried into the bathroom where he turned the heat of the shower up to near-scalding in the hopes that it would chase away some of the chill from his body.

As he reached for the body wash, Nick’s thoughts wandered back to the night before. There was going to be some fall-out, he was sure of it. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have cared a bit about what happened to Leo Harding. The man had ignored every warning he’d gotten and any trouble he had coming for him, he had brought down on himself. But Nick still found it difficult to get those freckles and that infectious laugh out of his mind. That, and those broad, strong shoulders. He remembered the way Leo had so effortlessly manhandled Lonnie Leblanc and got a sharp vivid flash of himself in Lonnie’s place, pressed up against a wall with Leo’s large hands wrapped around his wrists. 

That dark and twisted little thrill ran through him again and Nick quickly pushed all thoughts of Leo Harding away. He knew far too well how dangerous the feeling was. He might have searched out Fabian Frost for the money, but it was exactly that thrill and excitement that had made it so hard to leave, even long after he’d realised exactly what kind of man Fabian was.

He’d do well to stay as far away from Leo as possible. 

Nick lathered his hair with shampoo and stood under the spray with his eyes closed to let the hot water wash him clean. All the thinking had him half-hard and he was tempted to do something about it. If he couldn’t have the real thing, he could always enjoy the fantasy. What would Leo be like in bed? That incredible strength, that crooked little smile, those brilliantly blue eyes... Nick would have liked to get him out of that bulky sweatshirt yesterday, see if he was as well muscled as he appeared. Did he need to work out, or did that physique come naturally? He’d probably be able to easily lift Nick, maybe hold him up against a wall. What kind of kisser would he be?

Oh, damn it. This wasn’t going to lead anywhere good.

Nick clenched his teeth and hastily turned off the hot water, taking a sharp breath as the ice cold spray hit him in the face. He only managed to stay in the shower for a few more seconds, but at least those seconds were effective. When he stepped shivering out of the shower and reached for a towel, all thoughts of Leo Harding were mercifully absent. The downside was that the cold water had made him think of Fabian again, but that was probably a good thing right now. A reminder of why he should stay out of trouble.

He towelled off and got dressed, put on his thickest socks and a black knitted sweater, and padded into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. A look out of the window revealed that it had stopped snowing. On the other side of the street, a man was shovelling the snow off the sidewalk. Nick made a command decision not to stick his nose outside the door today. 

The coffee was brewing. A quick search of the fridge and the cupboards revealed nothing much edible, but Nick wasn’t very hungry. He grabbed a clean mug from the rack, filled it with coffee, and put the pot back to finish. There were some carrot sticks in the fridge and Nick grabbed a handful and brought them with him down to the workshop.

The apartment was small, only two rooms and a kitchen, but he’d also arranged to lease the workshop that was connected to his place through a spiral staircase. The workshop was on street level and was technically a storefront, but Nick rarely used the front door and usually kept the blinds drawn so people wouldn’t be able to see in through the windows. They had heavy wrought iron grills in front of them to prevent people from smashing them, and there was a gate barring the door that Nick kept locked at all times. He doubted someone would actually dare break in or vandalize the place, but he didn’t want to take any chances. The workshop was all he had and it made sense to protect it to the best of his ability.

The workshop itself consisted of two rooms; a larger one that had once been a small store and that Nick used as a storage space, and the back room, where he did most of his work. The staircase led directly down to the back room and Nick walked down it, munching on the carrot sticks and walking carefully so he wouldn’t spill his coffee. 

“Morning, Charlotta,” he said and put his foot down on the floor. “Or afternoon, I guess, but why be petty like that?”

On cue, the overhead light switched on, the sound system started playing, and the desktop computer on the nearest counter top blinked to life. The screen showed the feed from the security camera outside and Nick quickly flicked through the footage from the night, making sure everything was in order. The system would have told him if something had happened, but it was part of his routine and he liked doing it, just to assure himself that all was well. After yesterday night, it would probably be best to be a little more careful. Lonnie’s pride had to have been deeply hurt by Leo’s demonstration of force and he’d probably view Nick as an accomplice. 

He drank some more coffee, finished the carrots, and archived the security footage. Work had been slow lately and there were no rush jobs at the moment, so he dove into the guts of the fried laptop that rested on the work bench beside Charlotta. The laptop belonged to a university professor who had foolishly forgotten to back up his work, and had come begging Nick for help retrieving his data. Most of his customers came by referral, or through other business owners in the area who had come up short and were forced to search out his help. It suited him fine. He could keep to himself and his customers were too dependent on him to try to start any trouble.

It would be simple to do it with his brain, but for stuff like this, Nick liked working with his hands. He could still feel the circuits in his mind, but it reminded him of what things had been like before. 

The last dregs in the coffee mug were cold and Nick was a little closer to coaxing the elusive information out of the corpse of the computer when his phone rang. Nick didn’t have to look on the display too know who it was, and he really didn’t want to answer it. But if he didn’t, he could expect a personal visit. Nick picked up.

“Gina,” he said, not even bothering to hide his displeasure. 

“Nicky,” came the soft British voice through the line. Nick instinctively put his thoughts into the protective bubble he always used when dealing with her, even though he knew that she couldn’t read his mind from this distance. “How very nice to talk to you again. It’s been too long.”

Nick snorted. “It hasn’t been long _enough_. What do you want?”

Gina’s laugh had a tinny quality to it. “Fabian wants a word, love. He’s interested in the company you keep these days.”

Of course. Lonnie would have run directly to Fabian with the news, and Fabian had always hated the thought that there were people in the world that he knew nothing about and couldn’t control. 

“Tell Fabian that the company I keep is none of his business. We have an agreement, remember?”

“We’d like to re-negotiate that agreement,” Gina said. “There could be a very lucrative business opportunity in it for you, if you’re interested.”

Nick turned to lean against the workbench, unconsciously crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m not. We stay away from each other, that was the deal. As long as Fabian leaves me alone, I won’t have to bring my knowledge to the cops.”

Gina laughed again, a pearly, pleasant little sound. “Oh, Nicky, Nicky, Nicky. It’s so cute how you believe that will actually make a difference.” There was a pause and Nick could hear the sound of a cigarette lighter close to the phone. “You know, it’s very amusing to watch you trying to walk the narrow path, but we both know you’ll come crawling back sooner or later. A quiet life is not in your nature, love.”

Nick closed his eyes and concentrated on making his breathing calm and even. If Gina thought she was getting to him, she would get impossibly smug. “Was there anything else?” he asked.

“Not for the moment. Why don’t you take some time to think about it? Fabian has been missing your company.”

Nick couldn’t hold back a snort. “Somehow I doubt that.” 

“Scoff all you want, sweetheart.” There was a hint of hardness in Gina’s voice now. “We’re trying to do you a favor. Let you in on the ground floor, so to speak. If you don’t take the offer now, you’ll regret it later.”

“If you want to do me a favor, lose my number.” Nick held the phone away from his ear and waved at the display. “Bye,” he mouthed and ended the call with a touch of his mind.

So. Fabian was planning something, and from the sound of it, it was something big. He’d been moving towards total control of the city for years. Maybe he’d finally found a way to make it happen? 

Nick put the phone down and turned to the computer. “Charlotta, lets take a look at the insurance.” A moment later, files were flickering over the screen. Times, dates, pictures. Financial records. Nick had prepared this package carefully and made detailed plans for it in case something ever happened to him. Walking away from Fabian Frost had been the most stupid and the most dangerous thing Nick had ever done, even more stupid than coming to him in the first place. You simply didn’t leave Frost unless you were in a position to make completely sure he wouldn’t come after you with retribution.

Luckily for Nick, he had been in that position. Fabian had been trusting Nick with his secrets, and Nick had taken advantage of that and made copies of everything. Thirteen months ago, this information would have been enough to bury Fabian for good. Now, Nick wasn’t so sure. From what Gina had said, Fabian didn’t seem too worried about exposure any more. Maybe it was time to disappear after all?

The photographs rolled by on Charlotta’s screen and Nick found himself standing there, looking at them. He’d already spent more time than he wanted to think of studying those pictures; Nick’s own twisted version of a family album. 

Most of the photos were of Fabian Frost himself, his silver hair elegantly styled and a self-assured smile firmly fixed to his face. Fabian spent a lot of time cultivating the image of himself as a man of the world, a businessman and a philanthropist. He spent a small fortune on perfectly tailored suits, designer ties, and custom made watches. Nick knew very well what kind of man Fabian was underneath the well polished surface, but like so many others, he had been taken in by the impressive veneer. He’d always been attracted to power, no matter what form it came in, and ‘powerful’ was one of the best words to describe Fabian Frost.

Responding to Nick’s hesitation, Charlotta stopped scrolling through the photos. The album paused on a picture from some sort of party about two years ago. Nick couldn’t remember that particular evening; there had been too many of them. The people in the picture, however, were far too familiar. 

Fabian was the center of the group, just like always. Beside Fabian, Nick found a somewhat younger version of himself, one of Fabian’s arms wrapped possessively around his waist. Nick studied the image a little more closely, focusing on his own face. Around that time, he’d already been thinking about leaving for a while. Did it show on his face? Was there maybe a bit of a distance between him and Fabian in the photo? Fabian looked unaware, but Gina must have known, even then. 

She was standing on the other side of Fabian in the photo, one hand resting on his shoulder and the other holding a beautifully sculpted jade cigarette holder delicately between two fingers. She wore a stunning green cocktail dress in smooth velvet and her dark hair fell loose around her shoulders. 

In the background of the picture, Lonnie Leblanc and Frank Shane were looming, both dressed in dark suits and black ties. Lonnie looked uncomfortable in his outfit, while Frank carried his well.

On first glance, it looked perfectly innocent. A successful businessman, spending a night on the town with his lover, his friend and his bodyguards. Nick suppressed a shudder, remembering only too well how those nights had almost always ended with Fabian getting something he wanted, no matter the cost. It might have been a favorable deal, or some useful information, sometimes just the fear and respect of the citizens of Chicago. 

Some nights, what Fabian had wanted was Nick, spread out over his sheets, begging.

Nick shook his head, shut that thought firmly away behind lock and key in the back of his mind, and closed the files. This kind of brooding wasn’t going to lead anywhere. He still had work to do, and whatever Fabian had in mind for the future, it wasn’t going to happen right this instant. There was still enough time to prepare and come up with new strategies.

He went upstairs to refill his coffee mug, cleaned the coffee maker and threw away the grounds. He glanced out the kitchen window and saw that the man he’d seen shovelling the street earlier had put out an old lawn chair in the cleared area so no one would steal his parking space while he was away. 

He’d wasted time thinking about the past and he was no longer in the mood to work the old-fashioned way. When he came back down to the workshop, he dove into the ruined laptop with his mind instead of his hands, rooting around the damaged circuits until the information he’d been trying to rescue was safe and secure on a flashdrive. The laptop itself was unsalvageable and went on the scrap heap. Nick put the drive in a padded envelope on which he scribbled down the name of his customer. He asked Charlotta to print out an invoice and put that too into the envelope together with a note reminding the professor to remember to back up his work in the future. 

There were still some minor repair jobs left on the to-do list. A smart phone, a remote control, and a broken microwave. Fixing them by hand would have taken hours; nudging the appliances back into shape with his thoughts didn’t take more than twenty minutes. Then he was done for the day, with plenty of time left on his hands and nothing to fill it with.

The clock was nearing five in the evening. He’d have to think about dinner at some time in the future. There was always TV, and if there was nothing on, he could pop in a DVD. If all other attempts to occupy himself failed, the Showroom was always an option. Maybe Leo would be there today as well.

And where had that thought came from?

Nick pulled up a chair and sat down at the workbench in front of Charlotta. “Pull up the registry,” he said. “Let’s see who this Leo Harding is.”

The ‘Citizens with Special Abilities’ act had been passed five years ago, resulting in a voluntary registry for superpowered individuals. There had been strong and powerful voices calling out for mandatory registration but the human rights activists had protested, with good cause. Registration had ended up being strongly encouraged, but there were no consequences for those who chose to remain unregistered. There was a fifty-fifty chance that Leo would be in there, but it was better than nothing.

The registry wasn’t public, but that little detail didn’t stop Nick. It didn’t take him long to get into the database and put ‘Harding, L’ into the search window. The machine chewed on that for a while and then spat out a big fat nothing. Nick was actually a little surprised. Most do-gooders and hero wannabees chose to register. That way, the authorities could easily reach them in case a situation turned up where their abilities might be helpful. Well, maybe Leo had decided to stay under the radar. 

Still. Leo had said that he was born with his ability. Maybe it ran in the family? Nick entered in ‘Harding, *’ and waited for the result. 

Still nothing.

All right. One more try. He picked another search field and entered ‘enhanced strength’. Leo didn’t seem to be the type who would introduce himself with a false name, but you never knew. If Nick had learned one thing from his time with Fabian, it was that it paid to be suspicious.

The registry spit out a number of hits, but none of them matched Leo’s description.

Ah, well. It had been a long shot. Nick leaned forward on his elbows on the bench, and rested his chin on his knit hands, studying the list on the screen in front of him. Seventeen people with enhanced strength registered in the United States. How many were there really?

His phone rang again. Nick started at the shrill sound and almost fell out of the chair before he could reach out for it and answer, putting it on speaker. 

“Hi Alyssa,” he said, his voice a little shaky.

“You sound spooked,” Alyssa said. “Did something happen?”

“I was working.” Well, for a given value of ‘work’ anyway. “You scared the shit out of me.”

Alyssa laughed. “My day is officially made. Have you heard anything from Mr Dreamy? I’d expected the two of you to be shacked up in bed together somewhere by now.”

Nick knew she was just joking, but he couldn’t quite ignore the sharp pang in his chest at the thought. “I’d tell you why that would be a bad idea, but it would take all night.” He took a deep breath. “Gina Blackburn called. Apparently Fabian wants to have a word with me.”

“Oh.” The teasing lilt was gone from Alyssa’s voice in an instant. “That’s bad news, isn’t it? Do you think it has anything to do with last night?”

“Could be. I got the impression that it’s something he’s been planning for a while though. Gina hinted that my insurance might not be useless these days.”

“ _That_ is bad. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Nick ran both hands through his hair, stopping to rub the heels of his hands against his forehead. He was getting a headache. Time to get something to eat. “I might have to get out of Chicago for good. Find somewhere to lie low until it’s all blown over.”

Alyssa sighed. “I don’t like the sound of that,” she said. “But if that is what it takes... You know what, why don’t you come down to the Showroom and we’ll talk it over.”

“I was planning on staying in tonight, actually,” Nick said. 

“And do what? Mope and watch Japanese game shows? My shift ends at seven so if you drop by around that time we can get something to eat and talk about it.”

Nick didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. He hadn’t been looking forward to spending the evening on his own. He checked the time and came to the conclusion that he had just enough time to grab another shower and change his clothes before he’d have to leave. 

“All right. See you there.”


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nick got stuck in the bathroom the second time around, revelling in the hot water. Since he hadn’t planned on going out, he hadn’t spent much time on his appearance earlier. Now he put some conditioner in his hair, devoted half an hour to making sure it was perfect, and put on some cologne. The dark jeans he’d worn the night before were still all right, and he decided between a black and a white shirt until he gave up and picked the dark blue one instead. Alyssa used to accuse him of vanity and she wasn’t wrong. Nick knew he had a look that many people found appealing. He liked to use that to his advantage. 

It was still cold out and he shoved his hands in his pocket and huddled in his coat, pulling the collar up against the wind. He hadn’t walked more than a few steps outside the door before his hair was all over the place, despite the trouble he’d gone to earlier. He should have known better. Chicago was known as The Windy City for a reason.

It was five to seven when he walked into the Showroom, nodding to the girl at the coat check counter, but keeping his pea-coat on this time. Alyssa was standing behind the bar, serving beer to a couple of regulars. It was still early enough to be quiet. The partying crowd wouldn’t arrive until later. For now, people were content to drink and eat the hamburgers or hot wings that would be served for another hour. 

Nick cast a glance around the locale. The tourists were conspicuously absent today. The story from last night must have made the rounds and he doubted they would see any more gawkers for a while. A few customers were sitting at the tables in the dining area and the DJ was setting up her equipment in her booth, preparing for the evening.

Everett sat at one of the tables, a glass of water in front of him. On the other side was Leo Harding, sipping from a bottle of coke. Nick did a double take. He hadn’t really expected to see Leo back here today, and certainly not deep in conversation with Ev. The Showroom was usually free of trouble and Ev made sure to keep it that way. He didn’t care what people got up to or where their allegiances lay, as long as they kept it out of his bar. There weren’t a lot of places in the city that catered exclusively to people with abilities, so everyone in the community knew to respect Everett’s wishes. And here he was, talking to the guy who had been involved in a fight right outside the club yesterday.

Nick shook his head to himself and walked over to the bar.

“Alyssa Pitts,” he said, motioning with his head to the two men at the table. “Did you lure me here under false pretenses? I’m disappointed.”

Alyssa took a couple of bills from her customers and walked over to the cash register. “I swear, I didn’t know he was gonna show. He arrived after I called you.”

“What’s he doing here anyway? Why hasn’t Ev thrown him out yet?”

Alyssa laughed. “He came to apologize! Can you believe it? Came in here and walked right up to Ev and told him, ‘Sorry I caused trouble yesterday, I hope you’re not too cross with me.’” She’d lowered her voice an octave and it came out in a perfect imitation of Leo’s accent. “They’ve been talking for half an hour or so. I think they’ve already told each other their life stories. If Ev wasn’t straight as an arrow, I’d say you had some competition over there.”

Nick ducked his head and scratched his neck. He very carefully did not turn around to watch Leo. He wasn’t interested in any potential competition. “Did you promise me food?” he asked instead. “I could go for some wings.”

“Coming right up.” Alyssa untied the black apron around her waist and hung it up on a hook behind the door that lead to the kitchen. “Do you want the big plate or the medium? Oh, who am I kidding, it’s not like you’re going to eat it anyway.” She opened the kitchen door, stuck her head inside and shouted, “Darla! Fix me some medium wings and a burger combo, will you? It’s on me!”

“Sure thing!” a voice in the kitchen responded.

Alyssa turned back to Nick. “Want anything to drink?”

“You got any red that’s drinkable?” Nick asked. 

“Nu-uh. Just the usual.”

“I’ll have a Corona then.”

“You want lime with that?”

“Is there any other way to drink it?”

Alyssa turned around to get a couple of bottles out of the fridge and grabbed some knives and forks from the baskets on the bar counter before she walked around the bar and headed for a free table. “Hey Ev,” she said, waving the hand with the bottles. “I’m going off shift now. You got the bar?”

Everett raised her head and nodded. “No problem.” He turned to Leo. “Nice talking to you. You’re welcome around any time you want, as long as you don’t start any trouble.”

“I’ll do my best,” Leo said with a smile. Nick looked away. Any moment now, Leo was going to notice him, and he had no idea what to say or what to do. Acknowledge his presence? Go sit down at another table and pretend he didn’t exist? 

Alyssa took the matter out of his hands. She walked over to the seat Ev had just left and put the beers and the cutlery down on the table. Then she looked over to the bar. “Damn, I forgot the napkins. Nick, you sit down and wait, I’ll be right back.”

Nick glared after her. She might not have had a hand in bringing Leo here, but right now she was definitely scheming. As he looked back to the table, Leo gave him sheepish look and rubbed his palms on his jeans legs. 

“Sorry. I’ll get out of your way.”

That would probably be for the best, Nick thought. He could easily make Leo Harding walk right out of his life and never show his face here again. It wouldn’t even take much of an effort. All he had to do was to be as much of an asshole he was capable of, and that was a _lot_.

It could also get incredibly tiring. Nick sighed. “No, it’s okay. My so-called friend seems to have decided that we’re destined to get married or something. Tell me if it gets too much, I’ll give her a kick under the table.”

Leo’s smile was nice when directed at other people. When directed at Nick himself, it was positively brilliant. Leo reached out and pulled out one of the chairs, motioning to it. “Great! Come over here, sit down. I’m sorry about yesterday by the way. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble. What was the deal with that guy anyway? It was like trying to stop a speeding train.”

Nick walked over and sat down after only a moment’s hesitation, reaching for his beer. Alyssa had cut the lime into wedges that were balancing on top of the bottles. Nick squeezed most of the juice of his into the Corona and then shoved the wedge down the neck of the bottle. He took a sip, enjoying the mix of the slightly bitter beer and the sour lime. “Lonnie? He’s got a genetic disorder. He can’t feel pain. You should get him drunk some time and make him show you his scars. On second thought, don’t. He gets mean when he drinks.”

Leo raised his eyebrows. “He can’t feel pain? You mean, not _at all_? Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

“Very dangerous. Once, he ran seven blocks with a knitting needle stuck through his kidney. He only stopped because the blood loss knocked him out. Usually that’s the only way to stop him at all.”

“Ouch.” Leo winced. “So, do you... uh, know him well?”

Nick shrugged. “He’s one of Fabian Frost’s enforcers. I’ve spent some time with him. Can’t say I enjoyed it much. He’s mean when he’s sober too.”

“I see.” 

The silence that followed was slightly awkward. Nick drank his beer and Leo finished his coke, turning the bottle over in his hands when he was done. He really was bad at flirting, Nick thought. Then again, that was part of his undeniable charm. There was something surprisingly endearing about that naivety and innocence. Not exactly the kind of traits Nick usually found attractive, but he found himself smiling at Leo anyway.

Alyssa came back, threw a wad of napkins on the table, and sat down. “Food will be ready any minute,” she told Nick. Then, she turned to Leo. “You hungry? I can ask Darla to make another burger. Staff gets a discount so you can eat on my tab if you want.”

Leo had leaned back in his chair, looking a little wild eyed. “Thanks. That would be nice, miss...?”

“Oh!” Alyssa held out her hand. “Alyssa Pitts, I’m Nick’s friend.” She gave Leo a conspiratorial look and wiggled her eyebrows. “Pretty much his _only_ friend. Better be warned, this man is the most anti-social creature you’ll ever run into. He can be trained though.”

“I’m not a dog,” Nick said sourly. He glanced at Leo. “Just say the word. Seriously, I have very sharp toes.”

Leo smiled. It lit up his face, the room, and pretty much everything. Nick turned his head, suddenly very interested in Darla, the cook, who just arrived with two plates. “Dead chicken and dead cow?” she asked, putting both plates down on the table. 

Alyssa turned to Leo and stage whispered, “Vegetarian!” before she turned back and asked Darla, “Can we get another burger for our new friend here?”

“Sure thing!” Darla grinned and turned on her heel heading back to the kitchen, her long prehensile tail swishing behind her. “One more cow carcass coming up!”

Nick reached for a napkin, folded it around the tip of a chicken wing, and started to eat. It was just spicy enough to leave an aftertaste of chili and cayenne in his mouth and he washed it down with another swallow of beer. Alyssa dug into her hamburger with gusto, chasing the bite with a handful of french fries. When she looked up, there was a smudge of mayo in the corner of her mouth. 

Leo watched them both eat, looking like he was likely to die of hunger before his own food arrived. Nick pushed his basket of fries over the table in his direction. “Here. I never eat them anyway.”

Leo grabbed a few fries and popped them into his mouth one after the other, seemingly making an effort to chew slowly and not just wolf them all down in one go. “Thanks,” he said, offering Nick another one of those brilliant smiles. Then he turned to Alyssa. “So, um, would it be terribly rude to ask?”

“It sure would,” Alyssa said, treating them both to a mouth full of half chewed hamburger. “But I don’t mind.” She held out her hand. “Give me that empty bottle?” 

Leo handed over the coke bottle and sat back, watching in anticipation. 

“You better not break anything else than that,” Nick said. “Remember that little mishap with the windows?”

“Don’t be an ass, that was _years_ ago.” Alyssa lined the bottle up on the middle of the table, pushed her plate aside, and hunched down so her face was level with the tabletop. Then she opened her mouth and let out short, sharp burst of almost inaudible sound. 

At first, nothing happened. Then a crack appeared in the glass bottle. It ran from the top, all the way down to the bottom. A few seconds later, the entire bottle fell apart into small slivers of glass.

Leo raised his eyebrows in surprise and then laughed. “Cool! Were you always able to do that? Can you do anything else?”

“I think that’s the most spectacular part,” Alyssa said, smiling at the praise. 

“She can sing in harmony with herself,” Nick revealed. Alyssa gave her an exasperated look, but he ignored her. “And she does some mean impressions.”

“Really?”

“She did one of you when I walked in here. It was pretty good.”

Leo turned to Alyssa. “That is one cool superpower. I’m a little jealous. All I ever do is break things. You should see the rate I go through cellphones. All those little buttons, I just press on them too hard and before I know it, my finger has gone clean through.”

Alyssa leaned her head back and laughed, her eyes crinkling together. Nick grabbed another chicken wing and started to gnaw on it to mask his smile. He wasn’t more than halfway through his plate, but he was already beginning to feel full. Leo had made short work of the fries, seemingly without noticing.

“We’re supposed to call it ‘special abilities’ now, you know. In order to not cause unnecessary antagonism between different social groups or whatever.”

“Yeah, right.” Alyssa winked. “Can’t let the normals think we’re going to take over the world.” She pointed at Nick. “If they only knew about his secret underground lair, they would have real reason to be afraid.”

“It’s a workshop, not a lair,” Nick protested. “And it’s only half underground. Still, better not talk too loud about superpowers. It tends to make the normals nervous.”

“I know, I know.” Leo leaned forward with a groan and rested his head on his crossed arms. He was wearing a grey sweatshirt today and Nick couldn’t help but admire the way his shoulders moved under the fabric. “I feel a bit out of my depth here, to be honest. I’ve spent pretty much all my life hiding...” he glanced at Nick. “Well, hiding _everything_ , to be honest. I don’t have a lot of experience with all this. When I first came here, people said the community was pretty easy-going but all I seem to do is step on people’s toes.”

Darla arrived with Leo’s food and he quickly sat up again, grabbing for the burger like he hadn’t just devoured Nick’s whole order of fries. “This looks delicious, thank you,” he said to Darla. 

She winked back at him. “Enjoy! Oh, and here, this is on the house.” She swept her tail around and deposited a beer in front of him. “Don’t tell Ev I said this, but anyone who can show up Lonnie Leblanc is a hero in my books.” 

Leo blushed all the way from his throat to his eyebrows. Even that looked attractive. “That was nothing special. I’m just glad there was something I could do to help.” 

He looked just like he meant it too. Maybe that was part of what made Leo Harding so fascinating. Almost everyone who joined the community had a period where they just wanted to use their abilities for the good of mankind. Most people grew out of it. Others, like Felicia Carr, never did, and were inevitably disappointed to discover that, like everywhere else in the world, even people with abilities just wanted to keep to themselves and mind their own business.

It was like Leo had been reading Nick’s mind. “By the way,” he said, picking the pickle slices out of his burger and leaving them on the edge of the plate. “About Lonnie Leblanc. Can you explain that to me? I mean, a place like this, where almost everyone has... um, special abilities. Why don’t you just band together and stand up to people like Lonnie and Fabian Frost? Would it be that difficult?”

Alyssa wiped her mouth and sat back in her chair, raising her hands in front of herself in a protective gesture. “I’m not touching that one with a ten foot pole,” she said, looking at Nick. “All yours.”

Nick pushed the rest of his food away. He’d lost his appetite. “It’s not that simple,” he said. “Fabian and his people are powerful. If it was just a matter of abilities, yes, it might be possible to take him out. But he has more than that. He’s got leverage. People around here... they’re just ordinary people. They have families and jobs and mortgages. If you try to make trouble for Fabian, he can buy out the firm you work for and get you fired. He can go to the bank and buy the deed to your house. He knows where your kids go to school. Trust me, once you’ve seen your neighbor’s entire life destroyed because he blabbed about things that were none of his business, you do your best to keep your own mouth shut in the future.”

“I see.” Leo nodded slowly. “I understand. I’ve got family too. They’re not in the community, but I wouldn’t want to see anything happen to them.” Suddenly, his head shot up. “D’you think Frost will go after them because of what I did to Lonnie yesterday?”

Nick glanced at Alyssa, and only got a frown in return. Then he thought back to his conversation with Gina earlier. She had told him that Fabian had been interested in information about Leo. That meant he didn’t have that information yet.

“Odds are, Fabian doesn’t know who you are yet,” he said. “Keep a low profile, and you should be all right.”

Leo breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. That’s good. I didn’t think that one through.” He paused. “Am I going to get you two in trouble?”

“Not any more than we’re already in,” Alyssa said. She mopped up the last of the hamburger dressing on her plate with a french fry. “Don’t worry about it. We can take care of ourselves.”

“All right. I would hate for someone to get hurt because of me.”

He genuinely meant that one too, Nick thought. In addition, it didn’t matter how risky this was, Nick was enjoying the conversation. Talking to Leo was easy. He seemed to take everything at face value and as far as Nick could discern, he had no ulterior motives. Which probably meant that _something_ was fishy. Everyone always wanted something. In Nick’s experience, people like Leo Harding, good, honest people, just didn’t exist. Or maybe he was the one who knew the wrong people.

Alyssa slipped out her cell phone and made an obvious show of checking the time. “Oh, look at that!” she exclaimed. “I have to run!” She turned to Leo. “It was real nice to meet you. Stay out of trouble now.”

“I’ll do my best,” Leo smiled. He reached for his wallet. “Let me pay for dinner.”

“Nope, don’t want to hear anything like that. It goes on my tab anyway. You can pay me back some other time.” She seemed to be assuming that Leo would turn out to be a permanent fixture in their lives. Nick wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Alyssa leaned over his shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Have a fun night. And we still need to talk about that thing we were going to talk about, so call me tomorrow, okay?” 

She took away the empty plates and left Nick and Leo alone at the table. Nick finished his beer and wondered what he was supposed to do now. The smart thing would be to just say goodbye and go home. 

“She’s nice,” Leo said, indicating Alyssa’s retreating figure. “She seems to be a good friend.”

“The best,” Nick agreed. 

“So.” Leo cleared his throat. “How did you two meet? She doesn’t seem like the type who would... um. I mean...”

Nick snorted. “Believe it or not, but I wasn’t always one of the bad guys. I got to know her when I moved here.” He tapped his temple a few times with his forefinger. “She has a thing for strays. I’d just gotten this thing and I was about as lost you could get. That, and I’ve never tried to hit on her.”

“Okay. That makes sense.” There was a pause. Leo drank some beer before he continued.“I don’t think that about you, by the way.”

“Think what?” 

“That you’re a bad guy. Is that how you see yourself?”

Nick shrugged. “If the shoe fits. I’m no saint.”

“Well, you’re no villain either.”

Nick knew he shouldn’t ask, but he was curious enough to do it anyway. “So what do you think?” 

Leo leaned back and pursed his lips, studying Nick with a scrutiny that made him feel a little uncomfortable. Like he was facing a jury, waiting to be declared guilty or not guilty.

“I think you’ve made mistakes,” Leo said finally. “I think you’ve already paid for most of them, one way or another, but I’m pretty sure you don’t see it that way yourself. You don’t like to see people get hurt, and you do care, otherwise you wouldn’t have helped those kids yesterday.”

“Maybe I helped them because I didn’t want the cops snooping around down here.”

A shadow of something indefinable flitted over Leo’s face. “Maybe, but I don’t think so. You’re a better man than you think you are.”

Nick had to shake his head. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew me. I’ve done some pretty bad things in my life.”

If only Leo knew about everything Nick had done during his time with Fabian, he’d sing a different tune. Fabian might have been the one who carried out all the threats and ruined all those lives, but Nick had been the one to make it possible. There was no way he would ever be able to make that go away. 

“I bet you didn’t like it though,” Leo said. “Am I wrong? Because you really don’t strike me as the kind of person who would take pleasure in hurting others. I bet you had another reason.”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “Money, of course.”

“Really?” Leo frowned. He looked a little disappointed. Too bad for him. “Well, I don’t think that’s the whole story.”

“How come you’re so interested in my story anyway? People must have warned you about me. I saw you talking to Felicia Carr yesterday, she would’ve told you everything you need to know.”

“Felicia? Is that the red-haired lady?” Leo pulled an awkward little face. “Yeah, she said some things. But like I told you, I prefer to make up my own mind about people. You’re a fascinating man. And, uh... “ he cleared his throat again, and ducked his head to hide his blushing face. “...you’re very attractive. I’d like to get to know you better.”

Nick leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn’t hold back a smile. “You’re hitting on me again, aren’t you?”

Leo looked up with that sheepish little smile of his own. “I’m real obvious, huh? I told you, I’m no good at it.”

He looked like a little schoolboy, Nick thought. A kid trying to ask someone out for the first time. He’d probably been practicing in front of the mirror, rehearsing phrases that he thought might work. It was cute, Nick couldn’t deny that, and Leo Harding would probably make a very good boyfriend for someone else, someone who wasn’t Nick. He was a devoted and attentive kind of guy, the type who would buy roses and open doors and pull out chairs, the gentleman type. Nick usually found them somewhat amusing, but ultimately boring and tiresome. 

Leo was looking at him in a hopeful, puppy-like way, and Nick knew that he should let the man down easy. Say something nice and cite his own shortcomings as a reason. Sit back and let Leo Harding and his farm-boy looks and his absurdly muscular shoulders walk out of his life, hopefully never to return. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to find out what Leo looked like under those thick sweatshirts and how he might use that impressive strength in bed. The sex might turn out to be amazing, but Nick had no interest in a relationship, and he doubted Leo was the type of guy who would go for casual sex. No, he’d probably want to do the whole dating routine with dinners and movies and a hesitant peck on the lips on the doorstep by the end of the evening.

Nick should just let it end right here, before it had time to become anything else.

Instead, he opened his mouth and the words that came out were, “My place is pretty close. You want to come over?”


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“This is nice,” Leo said politely as Nick unlocked the door, switched off the alarm, and invited him in. “It has character.”

‘Character’ was a diplomatic way to put it. Nick’s apartment building was old and worn. It wasn’t a bad neighborhood and it was a comfortable place to live, but it tended to be drafty in the winter and hot in the summer and the entire house was well overdue for a complete renovation. Compared to Fabian’s luxury penthouse, it was a hovel. 

“It’s what I can afford,” Nick said dismissively and shrugged out of his coat. “Not exactly the Hilton, but it serves its purpose.”

Leo craned his head to peer into the rest of the apartment. “No, really, I like it,” he said. “I never could stand those modern places that are all glass and steel. They always look like they were made to be admired and not to be lived in. This is great. It looks... homey, I guess. It suits you.”

Nick felt for a second that he could get used to Leo’s brand of unassuming earnestness. It was true that he did like the apartment and felt at home there. He tried to keep most of the clutter in the workshop and had made it something of a challenge to find affordable furniture that didn’t look mass-produced. 

He toed his shoes off and placed them neatly on the shoe stand in the hall before he lead the way into the front room. Leo removed his own sneakers and followed suit, letting his eyes roam over the walls, the three large bookcases and the series of black and white prints that adorned the space over the couch. 

“Take a seat,” Nick said, pointing to the couch. “You want anything to drink? I’ve got wine and water. Might be some orange juice left too, if it hasn’t gone off. No beer, I’m afraid.”

Leo padded over to the couch and sat down, trying to cover one foot with the other. There was a hole in his sock, right on top of the big toe. “Wine’s fine,” he said. 

“All right. I’ll just be a minute.”

Nick went into the kitchen and took a couple of wine glasses down from the shelf. The bottle of Merlot he’d had with dinner two nights ago was still half full, just enough left for two glasses. He took a couple of deep breaths while he poured the wine. It wasn’t that he was _nervous_ per se, it was just that he hadn’t really been with anyone since Fabian. Sex had lost its appeal for months after Nick had walked away, and after that, it just hadn’t seemed worth the trouble. No one in the community was likely to be interested in Fabian Frost’s ex, and anonymous one-night stands were hit-and-miss at best. 

Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. But it wasn’t like he could kick Leo out now. 

When he got back into the front room, there was music playing softly from the sound system. Leo was sitting on the couch with one leg tucked up under the other. He’d stripped off the sweatshirt and folded it neatly over the arm of the couch. Underneath, he was wearing a plain white t-shirt, loose enough that you could only imagine the lines of his muscles.

“I put on some music, hope that’s okay,” Leo said. “There wasn’t much I recognized in your collection though.” 

He’d picked an Ella Fitzgerald album that Nick had bought on a whim because it had been on sale at the time. It wasn’t really his taste in music; he usually preferred industrial metal, but he’d found it relaxing and kept the record anyway. 

“It’s fine,” Nick said, handing him one of the wine glasses. “I wouldn’t have you pegged for a jazz fan.”

Leo scratched his neck in a self-conscious little gesture. “I’m not,” he admitted. “I’m not a fan of any specific genre, really. I just like some artists better than others.” He motioned at the stereo. “She had a nice voice.”

“She did,” Nick agreed. He sat down beside Leo on the couch, angling his body so they could face each other. He sipped his wine and watched Leo do the same. His skin felt a little tight and he wondered if he looked as sweaty as he felt. This was ridiculous. I wasn’t like this was his first date.

“So why did you ask me over?” Leo asked suddenly. “I have to admit, it surprised the hell out of me.”

“I was more surprised you said yes,” Nick said. 

The music was on so low that you could barely hear it. He reached out for the sound system and gave it a mental nudge, raising the volume a little bit. When he looked up, Leo was watching him in fascination.

“That’s a really neat ability,” Leo said. “You said it was acquired? Was it accident or something you did on purpose?”

Nick rubbed his temple. He knew there were no pain receptors in the brain, but sometimes, he could imagine the implant in there, chafing. “I guess you could call it an accident,” he said. “It wasn’t like this was the intended outcome.”

“Yeah?” Leo leaned forward in his seat, looking intrigued. “Tell me more.” 

It wasn’t something Nick liked to talk about, but Leo seemed genuinely interested. It wouldn’t hurt to tell him; a simple web search would reveal the whole story anyway. “For my postgraduate work, I was part of a team that worked on brain-computer interfaces. We were trying to find ways to improve quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries. The project was meant to develop a neural implant that would allow a quadriplegic patient to control a computer directly with his or her brain.”

“A neural interface,” Leo nodded, and then, at Nick’s look of surprise added, “There was an article in some magazine a while ago. It was interesting. Go on!” He motioned for Nick to continue.

“Well.” Nick stalled by drinking some more wine. “We got some results, but not enough. We had some success with rats and monkeys, but the implant was nowhere ready for human testing. Then, they threatened to cut our funding.” He closed his eyes, remembering that day, the absolute despair on Chrissie’s face as she got the news. “We were desperate to continue the work. A few of us thought that if we could just prove that it worked, our sponsors would change their minds. So we decided to go ahead and test the implant anyway.”

“With you as the guinea pig? Didn’t that break pretty much every rule in existence?”

Nick shrugged. “Like I said, we were desperate. Besides, the procedure was supposed to be reversible and Chrissie, the neurosurgeon I worked with, was one of the best in her field. We agreed that it was the only thing we could do.”

“It went wrong, didn’t it?” Leo put the wine glass down on the sideboard beside the couch and reached out to put a hand on Nick’s knee. He could feel the weight and the warmth of it through the fabric of his jeans. 

“You could say that,” Nick said wryly. “The next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital room and discovered I could talk to machines. I’d been in a coma for seven weeks. The implant had fused itself to my brain and couldn’t be removed without risking severe brain injury. Chrissie barely escaped criminal charges. She lost her medical license and the project was killed for good.” He chuckled bitterly. “So, an all around failure.” 

“I’m sorry,” Leo said, squeezing Nick’s knee a little. “And I’m sorry for your friend. You guys really wanted it to work, didn’t you?”

“We really did.” 

Chrissie had been heartbroken. No matter how many times Nick had tried to assure her that it hadn’t been her fault, he’d never been able to convince her.

Leo suddenly smiled. “You know, this is one of the reasons I don’t think you’re as much of a villain as you think you are. Would a bad guy risk his life to help paralyzed people? I don’t think so.”

And there it was again, that open, honest look. Nick pulled his legs up on the couch and shifted around, leaning his free arm over the backrest. “You really want me to be a good person. Why is that?” 

“Because I think you are.” Leo shrugged and blushed a little. “That, and I like you. You’re really good-looking and you’re smart. I mean, despite the accident, that work was impressive.”

Nick drank the last of his wine and put the glass down. The movement brought him closer to Leo, and he didn’t pull away. “You’re way too good for my ego.”

“Okay?” Leo swallowed compulsively and his hand on Nick’s knee flexed. “Should I take that as something positive?” 

He was getting a little flushed and Nick suddenly wanted to lick his neck, the curve of his ear, the sharp relief of his jaw.

“I think you should,” Nick said and leaned forward. He put one hand on Leo’s arm, letting it slide up his bicep, his fingers skirting the edge of Leo’s t-shirt sleeve. He could feel the power corded there, just underneath the warm skin. 

Leo held perfectly still, his breath caught in his throat. He’d stiffened up a little bit, like a spooked animal ready to run, and there seemed to be a hint of anxious hesitancy in his demeanor. Nick stopped, discouraged. “Is this okay?” he asked. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

The breath Leo let out sounded like a tiny explosion and he relaxed a little under Nick’s touch. “No, God no. I’m just a little nervous is all. I.. uh, I’ve wanted to do this since yesterday, actually.”

“Good.” Nick slid closer. “Because I’m going to kiss you now.”

He leaned in and brushed his lips against Leo’s, felt the warmth of his breath, and pulled away again, just far enough that he could ask, “Okay?”

“Uh-huh.” Leo nodded. Before Nick could react, he’d surged forward to return the kiss.

Leo kissed with his eyes closed, slow and gentle, with the tiniest little moans escaping his throat. Nick opened up to let him in, revelling in the feeling of Leo’s lips, his hot tongue, the hint of stubble scraping against Nick’s chin. The kiss tasted of wine and a little sweat and it quickly grew more heated as Leo put his hand around the back of Nick’s neck and pulled him closer, rubbing his thumb in small circles just below Nick’s ear.

It was good. Maybe a little too soft, but it had been so long since Nick had been close to _anyone_ like this and he didn’t mind. Leo seemed to enjoy kissing just for its own sake, taking his time to explore Nick’s mouth thoroughly to find out what he liked. 

Nick moved his other arm from the back of the couch to Leo’s shoulder, slid it down his back to feel the incredibly strong muscle there. He couldn’t wait until he got the t-shirt off and got to see Leo in all his naked glory. He was getting hard already, reacting all too easily to the feeling of Leo’s body against his own.

Leo gripped Nick’s neck a little harder, enough to bring a groan from his lips and send a little shudder through his body. He wanted Leo to keep going, maybe fist a hand in his hair, but instead, Leo stopped and pulled away, breathing heavily. “Sorry,” he gasped. “So sorry. You have to tell me if I’m hurting you.”

“I don’t mind,” Nick assured him. “If you do anything I don’t like, I’ll let you know.”

“You sure? It’s just... I’m really strong.”

“I won’t break.” Nick quickly pressed his lips against Leo’s again. “Keep going.” 

Hell, considering some of the things Fabian had done to him, having a partner who was prepared to hold back at the mere possibility that Nick wasn’t enjoying himself was something of a novelty. He hoped Leo wasn’t going to stop for cues too often. That could get old really fast.

Leo kept kissing him, and now he seemed to be concentrating on slow and careful. One of his hands went for Nick’s shirt buttons, lightly easing them through their buttonholes until his shirt was open over his chest. Nick shivered once, as the cold air of the apartment hit his bare skin, but Leo was putting out enough heat that the space between them soon warmed up. Leo slipped a hand inside the fabric, finding one of Nick’s nipples and rubbing a thumb over it. Nick gasped and Leo came to a halt again, pausing the barely-there touch until Nick urged him to continue.

The position was a little bit awkward and Nick was getting a cramp in his neck. He shifted around, moving his leg to straddle Leo’s thighs, and took the opportunity to get his hands under Leo’s t-shirt in the process. The skin of his torso was hot, bordering on feverish, as Leo raised his arms, allowing Nick to pull the shirt over his head. 

Up close, he looked even bigger. There was probably a reason for why he wore those shapeless sweatshirts and loose tees. Leo’s well-defined muscles were almost a little intimidating. He had the kind of physique any other man would have to spend countless hours in the gym to acquire, and still wouldn’t look this good. On Leo, it looked perfectly natural, like this was exactly how he was meant to be. There was a light dusting of coarse, sandy hair covering his pecs, tapering off and growing more sparse as it reached his navel, except for the thin treasure trail that continued downwards to disappear under the waistband of his pants. Nick ran his hands over Leo’s chest and ground his hips down. He was fully hard now, and he could feel Leo’s answering erection through the fabric of their jeans.

Leo’s soft moans were getting a little louder. He slid his hands underneath Nick’s shirt, helping him shrug out of it, and dropped it on the floor. Then, his fingers ended up grabbing Nick’s hips, guiding his movements as they rutted against each other. Nick couldn’t help wishing that he’d be a little more forceful. He certainly had the power to back it up. But Leo held him so very gently, like he was a precious thing made of fine china. Maybe he ought to be flattered? No one had ever treated him like that before. Fabian certainly never did.

They were both breathing hard now. Nick broke the kiss to nip at Leo’s ear, moved his mouth downward to suck at his throat, press his lips against Leo’s pulse and feel the blood pounding under his skin. Leo leaned his head back against the couch and closed his eyes, sliding his hand up and down Nick’s back. He looked like he was having to work hard to maintain control of himself, and Nick vowed there and then to make Leo lose that control before the night was over.

Nick’s jeans were getting uncomfortably tight, his cock straining against the zipper, begging to be released. He figured it had to be the same for Leo, whose hips were working relentlessly, rubbing their groins together at a more and more frantic pace. Nick pulled away just enough to get a hand between them, fumbling Leo’s button fly open, and then opening his own. He managed to get a hand inside Leo’s jeans, wrapping it around his cock through his plain white cotton briefs. There was a bit of wetness where he had leaked through the fabric, and the scent of his sex hit Nick even from this distance. Leo pulled in a sharp breath and stilled his hands, loosening his grip until he was barely touching Nick’s skin.

“It’s all right,” Nick breathed against the side of Leo’s throat. “Keep touching me, I’ll let you know if it hurts.” He wasn’t sure that he’d mind at this point. The thought of Leo’s fingers leaving bruises on his skin was almost more arousing than the touch itself.

Leo swallowed, squeezed his eyes shut, and nodded. “Okay.” Nick tightened the grip on his hardness and Leo thrust up against him. “God! That feels really good.”

Nick couldn’t hold back a smile. “That was the general idea,” he said. “Why don’t we move this into the bedroom? I want to blow you and the floor is kinda hard.”

Leo’s breath caught in his throat and he thrust up into Nick’s hand a few times before he grabbed Nick’s hips and got to his feet in one smooth movement. Nick had just enough time to wrap his arms around Leo’s shoulders and his legs around his waist to avoid falling to the floor. Being lifted like that, like he weighed nothing at all, was an incredible rush. Nick’s cock throbbed and he rubbed up against Leo’s belly searching for friction.

Their lips met again and they were kissing with more intent now. Nick caught Leo’s bottom lip between his teeth and worried at it, brought his hands up to run them through Leo’s hair, amazed at how soft it was. Leo held him in a tight embrace, using his arms to help Nick move against his body. Feeling all that incredible strength against him was almost more than Nick could take. He felt like he could come from this alone. 

“All right, all right,” he broke the kiss, panting against Leo’s neck. “Let me down.”

Leo put him down, gently and carefully. “Yes, of course, sorry.”

“And don’t _apologise_ , Jesus, do I look like I’m complaining?”

He turned and led Leo to the bedroom, trying to catch his breath. It had been far too long since he’d had sex. He’s almost forgotten how much he enjoyed it, how much fun it could be with a new lover, finding out what they liked and what got them off. Leo was a little too gentle for Nick’s tastes, but he figured it made sense. Someone with his strength could easily hurt his partner by accident. He must have trained himself to be careful and take it slow. Maybe Nick would be able to train him out of it? He could only imagine the things Leo could get up to in bed if he really wanted to.

Nick lit the lamp on the bedside table, leaving the overhead light that was too bright. He pushed Leo backwards toward the bed until he was sitting on the edge of it, his powerful legs stretched out in front of him, leaning back to support himself on his arms to make room for the huge bulge in his briefs.

The light was soft enough to leave shadows on his skin. Nick watched him, watched how the hard muscles of his abdomen were trembling slightly. His cock was straining out of his underwear.

Nick stood in front of Leo and shimmied out of his jeans and boxers, stepped out of them, and left them on the floor where they fell. Leo reached out for him, took his hand and drew him closer, pulled him down for another kiss. Nick pushed him slowly backwards until Leo was lying on his back on the bed, legs hanging over the edge. He was making the most delicious noises as Nick got in between his spread legs and pressed their bodies together, rubbing up against him. Leo’s jeans were chafing a bit against Nick’s bare skin, but it felt good, just enough of a sting to make it exciting.

They kissed for a while, taking the time to just stay in the moment. Nick felt like he could get used to this, get used to how flexible and pliant Leo was, ready to follow Nick’s lead and do whatever he wanted. Hopefully, things would work out just as well the other way around.

Eventually, Leo pushed Nick away and up, watching him with widely dilated pupils. “You’re gorgeous,” he said. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?”

Nick snorted. “ _You_ are overdressed. Let’s do something about that, shall we?”

He made Leo scoot up until he was fully on the bed and then grabbed the legs of Leo’s jeans and pulled until they slid off him. The muscles of his thighs were just as impressive as those on his upper body and Nick couldn’t resist. He pressed his hands against Leo’s legs, slid them slowly upwards, feeling the flex and play there. Then, he tucked his fingers under the waistband of Leo’s briefs and pulled them off as well, letting him spring free of the restricting fabric. 

Leo was well proportional. His cock rose, hard and proud from the thatch of blond hair between his legs. There was a drop of clear fluid gathered at the tip. Nick leaned over to lick it away, felt the fresh, musky scent of Leo in his nostrils. Leo gasped as Nick’s tongue touched his skin and fisted his hands in the coverlet, his knuckles turning white.

Nick smiled. He laid down and made himself comfortable between Leo’s legs, slid his hands over the inside of his thighs, ran his fingers through the pale curls adorning his sex. Leo pushed his hips up, insistently, wordlessly begging for more touch. Nick pressed a couple of kisses against the thin, sensitive skin of his groin, used just a little hint of teeth, and was rewarded with another gasp.

“Are you invulnerable as well?” he asked, raising his head to look up the length of Leo’s body. “Is this going to leave a mark?”

Leo drew a deep breath. His voice was shaking a little when he answered. “No, not invulnerable. I heal pretty fast but... yeah, there’ll be marks.”

“Hmmm.” Nick liked the thought of that. He put his mouth on the soft skin high up on Leo’s inner thigh and sucked, bringing the blood to the surface until it formed a dark red spot against the paleness of his leg. Leo gave a heartfelt moan, so deep that Nick thought he could feel it in his chest. 

Leo had his head raised at a slightly awkward angle, looking down at Nick with so much heat in his eyes, that Nick had to lower his gaze and concentrate on the twitching cock in front of him. It wasn’t much longer than average, but it was thick, and Nick got the sudden image of Leo fucking him, splitting him open. He had to rub himself against the mattress to relieve some of the pressure.

He licked a broad stripe along the length of Leo’s cock, swirled his tongue around the head, and then opened his mouth wide to take him in. The sound Leo made was somewhere between a shout and a groan and he gripped the quilt even harder, like he had to force himself to keep his hands there instead of using them to press Nick’s head down on his cock. Nick wouldn’t have minded the least if he’d decided to do just that. He thought about telling Leo that it was okay, that he could do pretty much anything he wanted, but there was also the challenge of _making_ him lose control and that was almost more arousing.

Nick started by sucking gently, getting used to the fullness and the girth of Leo’s cock in his mouth. It was a somewhat tight fit, but he didn’t need a lot of time finding a light, easy rhythm, bobbing his head up and down, letting Leo slide over his tongue. He tasted clean and salty and undeniably male, and Nick couldn’t hold back a moan at the heady rush of it. 

When he pulled off and looked up, he saw that Leo had thrown his head back onto the bed. His chest was heaving and he was swallowing compulsively. He looked like he was trying to keep himself from just fucking up into Nick’s mouth. Nick thought that they should have done it the other way around instead, with Nick on his back on the bed and Leo straddling his chest, pushing into his throat. Maybe they could try that some other time.

He went back to sucking, took a break to lick and fondle Leo’s heavy balls, and slip a couple of fingers underneath to press against his perineum. Leo made the best noises, barely restrained grunts and groans, and Nick discovered that he didn’t have the patience to wait. He wanted to see what Leo looked like when he was coming, and he wanted to see it now.

He opened his throat wide and took Leo in as far as he could get, breathed through his nose, and swallowed.

Leo let out an honest-to-God whine. His hands never let go of the death grip they had on the fabric of the coverlet, but he did pump his hips up, one, two, three times. Then he went perfectly still and came down Nick’s throat with a roar.

Nick swallowed the first spurt and then pulled off to let the second one hit him over the mouth and cheek. Leo’s come was warm and sticky against his skin and Nick licked his lips to get another taste of it.

“Sorry,” Leo panted. He was breathing heavily, like he’d just ran a race. “Sorry, I should’ve given you some warning.” His cock was slowly softening against his belly. Nick ran a finger along the length of it, liking how it made Leo’s thighs twitch with aftershocks. 

“No apologising,” Nick said again. He ground down against the mattress, giving his own erection some much needed attention. “I did that on purpose.”

“God.” Leo finally let go of the cover and dragged one hand over his chest. His body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. “That was amazing. Just give me a minute and I’ll...” he trailed off, flailing his hand around a bit.

“I hope you’re not planning to fall asleep on me,” Nick said. He tried for levity, but couldn’t quite keep the resigned question out of his voice. Fabian had done that sometimes, drifted off after Nick had brought him off and left him to take care of himself to the sound of Fabian’s snoring. He didn’t think Leo was one of those guys, but you could never know, could you?

Leo quickly shook his head and sat up. “No, no of course not. Come here.” He pulled Nick closer, rubbed his thumb over the spatter of come on his cheek, and then leaned in to kiss him again. 

Nick put his hand on Leo’s cheek, felt the pounding pulse under his skin, warm and alive. Warm. That too was a nice contrast to Fabian, who could lower the temperature in a room by several degrees just by walking through the door.

“What are you thinking about?” Leo asked suddenly. Nick met his eyes, saw the puzzlement and the curiosity there.

“Nothing.” He took a deep breath and willed every remaining shred of Fabian Frost out of his mind. Fabian had no place here. “Keep kissing me.”

Leo obeyed, leaned both of them over until they were lying face to face on the bed, legs tangled together. Nick found a place on Leo’s thigh to rub himself against, chasing his own orgasm. It wasn’t far away, and the feeling of Leo’s body against his only brought him closer to the edge.

“Can I touch you?” Leo asked, breathing the words against Nick’s ear. His hand slid over Nick’s chest and stomach and down between his legs. “I’ll be careful... I just, I really want to.” 

Careful was the last thing Nick wanted. He thought again about Leo holding him down on the bed, just taking what he needed, and shuddered as the image flashed through his mind. He took Leo’s hand in his and brought it where he wanted it, gasping as Leo’s fingers closed around him.

“Go ahead,” he said. “You can do whatever you want.”

Leo started moving his hand slowly up and down. The grip was too loose and Nick thrust into Leo’s fist, searching for the friction he needed. “A little harder,” he said. 

“You sure?” Leo did as he asked, tightened his hand and sped up a little, but it still wasn’t enough. Nick wrapped his hand around Leo’s and showed him the rhythm and speed he liked, hooked one leg over Leo’s hip and rutted against him. His precome was slicking their fingers and Nick thrust harder into their joined fists, burying his face in Leo’s shoulder.

He was close, but not quite there yet, and he _needed_ to come. Months of pent up frustration had gathered in his belly and he was trying desperately to find just that little extra edge that would bring him off. He thought again about lying on his back on the bed, Leo’s hands around his wrists in a bruising grip, thought about being backed up against a wall, lifted and taken. It would be so good.

Leo turned his head, pressed his lips against Nick’s throat, and bit down. It was too gentle, too hesitant, but coupled with the rough images in Nick’s head, it was enough. He came with a shout, spilling over their hands. Leo kept going, milking his cock until he was completely spent, and then moved to kiss his mouth instead, licking his way in between Nick’s lips.

“Not bad,” Nick said when he’d caught his breath. He rolled over until he was lying on his back, wiping his hand on the cover. He’d have to do a load of laundry tomorrow. Leo turned onto his stomach and raised himself up on his elbow, looking down on Nick. There was a somewhat goofy grin on his face. His freckles were almost unnoticeable in the soft lamplight.

“I liked that,” he said. His smile was too damn affectionate and Nick didn’t quite know how to deal with it. What did Leo expect all this to lead to? It wasn’t like Nick was prime boyfriend material. There was too much baggage in his past; getting involved with him would only lead to trouble on Leo’s part.

And there was something else. Call it intuition, or whatever the right word would be, but something didn’t feel right about the situation. What was Leo even doing here? He’d talked about his family earlier, expressed concern for them. Why would he knowingly jump into bed with Fabian Frost’s ex-boyfriend?

Leo frowned. “You have that look again,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Nick sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “I’ll go get a towel. Do you want some water or something?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Leo stretched out on top of the cover, putting one arm under his head. Nick wondered if he knew how good he looked. Probably not. That was part of what made him so attractive, the fact that he had no idea how gorgeous he really was.

Nick went into the bathroom, drank some water from the tap, and wet a washcloth. He took a look at his own reflection in the mirror. His hair was all over the place, his lips were kiss-swollen, and Leo had left a faint red bite-mark on his throat. Nick pressed a thumb against it, feeling something stir in his belly at the dull sting.

He was probably just overly paranoid. The years with Fabian had turned him into a suspicious bastard. In Fabian Frost’s world, everyone had an ulterior motive. There was always a second shoe around the corner, just waiting to drop. Nick had accepted that world when he walked into it. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had an ulterior motive of his own.

Leo was half-asleep when Nick returned to the bedroom. He’d pulled the covers and the sheets aside and was sprawled out on top of the undersheet. When Nick walked in he got a sleepy look and a little smile. Nick dropped the washcloth on his bare stomach and watched him do a cursory clean up and drop the cloth on the floor when he was done.

“Come to bed?” Leo asked, patting the empty space on the mattress beside him. “Sorry, I’m boring. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“In a minute. I’ll just tidy up a bit.” He picked up the washcloth Leo had dropped, pulled the coverlet off the bed, and gathered up his own jeans and underwear from the floor and put the whole heap in the laundry hamper. Then he bent down to collect Leo’s jeans. 

Leo’s eyes were already closed. His breathing was slow and even and he looked like he was well on his way to falling asleep. 

Nick quickly reached into the back pocket of Leo’s jeans and fished out the black leather wallet he found there. Leo stirred on the bed and raised his head to make a questioning little noise. Nick hurried to fold the pants and put them over the back of a chair. “I’ll put your stuff over here,” he said, striving to let his voice sound natural. It didn’t take much effort. Being with Fabian had made him an expert at hiding his feelings.

Leo murmured something inaudible. Nick turned his back and quietly slid the drawer of his bedside table open, slipping the wallet inside. He’d try to find the opportunity to go through it later before Leo found out it was missing. It was only prudent, he told himself. He couldn’t allow himself the luxury of trusting people he’d just met, no matter how likeable they seemed.

But he couldn’t quite stop himself from harboring hopes either. Nick slid in between the sheets and Leo immediately reached for him, wrapping an arm around his waist. He was so warm and Nick unconsciously scooted a little closer, searching it out. He couldn’t remember ever having shared a bed with such a warm person before. One more thing he could easily get used to.

Nick closed his eyes, listened to the sound of Leo’s heartbeat, and tried to fall asleep. He wasn’t successful. The thoughts kept spinning round and round in his mind and he couldn’t stop wondering what exactly he’d just gotten himself and Leo into.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Nick must have fallen asleep somehow, because he woke up a few hours later feeling groggy and disoriented, and with a strong feeling that something was wrong. He turned over and found the bed empty. Leo was nowhere to be seen. It was two o’clock in the morning, the time Nick usually went to bed. He cast around the apartment, looked for any sign of where Leo might be. The music in the front room has stopped playing long ago, but the sound system was still active. The TV was turned off, and so was the laptop on the kitchen table. 

Then he reached downstairs, into the workshop, still holding onto the futile little hope that he might be wrong, that Leo had just gotten out of bed for a glass of water and would be back in a minute.

The light downstairs was on. Charlotta was up and running. 

Nick lay back, ran his hands through his hair, and sighed. He couldn’t even bring up any feelings of disappointment or betrayal, just a deep, bitter resignation. Of course. He should have expected something like this. It wasn’t like anything good ever happened in his life. 

He got out of bed, put on some clothes, and went into the front room. There was a lockbox on the top shelf of one of the book cases. He entered the combination and took out the Glock he kept there, grateful that he hadn’t gotten rid of it like he’d planned when he left Fabian.

The gun was already loaded. Nick racked the slide to chamber a round and thumbed the safety off. It had been a while since he’d had reason to use it, but he still checked the gun regularly, making sure it was always ready to use. Old instincts kicked in almost immediately and he kept the gun aimed at the point where he was looking as he moved through the apartment.

He tried to walk quietly down the staircase, but it was made of metal and rattled slightly under his weight. He came down into the workshop to find Leo standing in front of Charlotta, hands hovering over the keyboard. Leo was looking up at Nick, his expression that of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

There was a flashdrive plugged into one of Charlotta’s USB ports. Nick sighed, reached for the computer, and shorted the whole thing out. The screen flickered and went black, and sparks flew from the hard drive. Leo jumped back a few steps, raising his hands to shield his face. A smell of ozone and burnt plastic filled the room. 

“Since we’ve already established that you’re not invulnerable,” Nick said, pointing the gun at Leo as he finished the walk down the staircase. “I’ll just ask you to get out of here before I put a bullet in your head.”

Leo backed away slowly, still with his hands raised. “All right, all right. I swear, this isn’t what it looks like.”

“It looks like you’re going through my personal files.” Nick walked over to the computer and grabbed the flashdrive. It was slightly hot to the touch. “And it seems like you were copying them too. I’m not an expert, but I think that counts as theft. Now get out of here.”

“Okay, I’m leaving.” Leo started backing towards the door. “Will you just please hear me out first? I didn’t have a choice. I’m sorry it had to happen like this, I really am, but I had to.”

Nick shook his head. “Not interested. If I ever see you around here again, I will shoot. And you can tell Fabian that it doesn’t matter if he gets his hands on those files. I have back-ups in several places and the moment anything happens to me, the information goes straight to the appropriate instances.”

Leo raised his hands a little more. “I promise, I’m not...”

“Why are you still talking?” Nick barely raised his voice, but even he could hear the anger in there. He reached out for the electronic lock on the door and opened it, motioning to the door with his free hand. “There, door’s open. Get out, and stay gone. You should be glad I’m such a _good guy_.” He let the sarcasm drip off the last words. “Otherwise I would have killed you already.”

Leo looked like he was going to say something else, but changed his mind. Instead, he gave a dejected little sigh, opened the door, slipped outside, and pulled the door shut behind him. Nick waited for several breaths, still with the gun pointed at the place where Leo had just stood. When he was sure Leo was gone, he locked the door again. 

Nick sank to the floor, his hands shaking. He felt a little sick, and for a moment he was sure he was going to throw up, but the feeling passed after he’d taken a few deep breaths. Jesus. How could he had been so stupid? There was a reason for why he didn’t let people get close, and one of the best reasons had just walked out the door.

He checked Charlotta, but she was well and truly fried. “Sorry about that, girl,” he said, patting the smoking shell of the hard drive. “I’ll have you fixed up as good as new in no time.” He backed his files up regularly and no information would be lost, but it was still annoying to have to rebuild the computer.

All right, what now? Leo had been trying to steal the insurance files, which probably meant Fabian had something to do with it. Was this connected to what Gina had told him on the phone earlier in the day? But she had hinted that Fabian wasn’t even worried about Nick’s insurance anymore. Had she lied? It wouldn’t be the first time.

Suddenly, Nick wanted nothing else than to go back to bed, crawl under the covers, and never come out again. His mind was spinning with questions that he had no answers to. 

He switched the gun safety on and put it on the floor beside him, pulled his knees up, and pressed his forehead against them. There was a tense feeling behind his eyes, heralding a coming headache. What the hell was he going to do about all this? How could he have been stupid enough to trust Leo Harding? Alyssa was right, all you had to do was to parade a nice ass in front of him and all reason would fly right out of the window.

Speaking of Leo. Nick climbed to his feet, gathered up the gun, and hurried up the staircase again. Leo had taken his clothes and collected his tee and the sweatshirt from the front room, but had he noticed that the wallet was gone?

Nick almost ran into the bedroom and jerked the drawer open. There it was, inconspicuous black leather. He sat down on the bed and tried to catch his breath before he opened the wallet to go through it. 

There wasn’t much in there. About forty dollars in small bills. A driver’s licence, two credit cards, and a library card, all issued to Leo J. Harding. A few business cards were tucked into one of the compartments, but Nick didn’t recognize any of the names on them. There was a donor card, a few receipts, and a scrap of paper where someone had scribbled down the address to the Showroom.

Tucked away underneath all that was a photograph. Nick took it out and studied it with a heavy sensation in his stomach. 

In the picture was a woman and a little girl. Nick didn’t pay much attention to the woman. She was pretty in a plain, understated way, with strawberry-blond hair and a pleasant smile. The child, on the other hand... The family resemblance was uncanny. The girl’s hair was long and kept in pigtails, but was the exact same blond shade as Leo’s. The bright blue eyes were the same as well. Even the freckles were there. She looked like he might be nine or ten years old. The driver’s licence had Leo at twenty-nine. He must have gotten married young.

Nick wasn’t sure what hurt more. That Leo had tricked him into trusting him, or that he had so obviously lied about _everything_. He knew that there were plenty of closeted gay guys with families, but this picture was worn and well-thumbed. Leo clearly loved these two very much.

He put the wallet away, swallowing to get the bitter taste out of his mouth. It wasn’t that he’d hoped for anything beyond tonight, it was just... maybe he had hoped a little bit anyway. Leo had seemed perfect. Too perfect in hindsight. Nick had been right earlier, people like Leo just didn’t exist. No one was that nice and friendly.

Nick stood up. Suddenly, the walls were closing in on him. The apartment felt colder since Leo had left, and the air tasted stale. He had to get out of here. 

He put the gun back in the safe and put on some sweats and a windbreaker, donning a seldom used baseball cap as an afterthought. Not many people would be out in the small hours of the morning, but Nick didn’t want to be recognized. He put Leo’s wallet in his pocket, grabbed his cell phone and his earbuds, and dug out his old sneakers from the hall closet. It was a stupid time of the day to go for a run, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do. He needed to get moving, clear his head and try to find a solution to all this.

There was just enough snow on the ground that he had to be careful not to slip. The streets were largely empty. All sane people were probably in their beds right now.

Nick had taken up running in college, when he’d been on a scholarship and didn’t have the money for a gym membership. He’d found that running helped him think, as well as keep in shape. He’d never been the type to put on a lot of muscle, and the weeks he’d spent in the coma had made him drop weight he could ill afford to lose, weight he had yet to gain back. Running helped him maintain at least the illusion of a healthy lifestyle.

He put in the ear buds and brought up the music on his phone. Soon, Rammstein was booming in his ears. He started jogging at a slow pace, but soon found himself speeding up, as if there was something he needed to run from. 

Leo’s wallet kept slapping against his thigh through the fabric of his sweatpants. It was a steady thud, and every time it hit his leg, the picture of the woman and the little girl flashed through Nick’s mind. 

He wasn’t jealous. Leo had never been his to begin with, and it was obvious that the only reason he’d shown any interest in Nick at all had been because of what he knew about Fabian. Suddenly, his inquisitiveness made a lot more sense. Leo had been trying to pump him for information regarding Fabian Frost from the first moment they met. He should have known back then that something wasn’t right. Everything else, the easy-going friendliness, the humble facade, it had all been an act. 

Now that Nick thought of it, maybe the whole confrontation with Lonnie yesterday had been an act too? The two of them could have set it up beforehand, so that Leo could gain trust in the community.

Nick sped up even more. He ran until he could barely breathe, and then he ran some more, until small spots were beginning to form in his field of vision. Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea he’d ever had. He hadn’t eaten much today, and he’d slept badly the night before. 

When he stopped to try to catch his breath, he found that his legs had brought him close to Alyssa’s place. Maybe it was instinct, or maybe that was where he had meant to go all along without even knowing it. When things got hairy, Alyssa would usually offer him a place to hide out.

He’d been out for about an hour. It was close to five o’clock in the morning and he knew Alyssa wouldn’t be up at this hour, but it had to count as morning and she’d told him to call her, hadn’t she?

His legs felt like overcooked spaghetti as he walked the last block to her apartment building. He’d worked up quite a sweat running, and now his soaked clothes were quickly getting chilled in the cool air. Yeah, definitely not the best idea he’d ever had. 

Nick stopped in front of the front door to Alyssa’s place and looked up at her windows. It was dark, of course. She had to be sleeping still. He briefly debated with himself about going back home to his own apartment, but the thought alone made him feel miserable. He took out his cell phone, tried pressing in Alyssa’s number on the speed dial, but quickly found that he was shivering too much. He told the phone to call her with a thought instead, and heard the signals go through.

It took some time, but eventually, the call was picked up, followed by a low curse and some rattling in the background.

“Alyssa?” Nick asked. His teeth were chattering. He really needed to get inside.

“Yeah?” came the somewhat muzzy answer. 

“It’s me. I’m downstairs. Come let me in?”

“Nick?” Alyssa seemed to be moving around some. Nick could hear the rustling of sheets, could hear her scrabbling for something, possibly the watch on her bedside table. “Do you know what time it is? This girl needs her beauty sleep!”

“I’m freezing to death down here. Please?”

It was an ugly trick, but Nick wasn’t above using it at the moment. A few more minutes, and he’d be well and truly frozen. He wasn’t even sure he’d make it back home at this point. He heard Alyssa sigh on the other side of the line.

“All right, all right. Hold on, I’ll throw down a key.”

She ended the call. Nick put his phone back into his pockets and looked up at Alyssa’s windows. It took a while, but eventually the light turned on, one of the windows opened and Alyssa’s face showed up. The light was behind her and her face was in shadow, he could barely make out her features and it was impossible to see her expression.

“Here you go!” she shouted, and dropped a keyring down onto the street. It landed in the snow with a soft little thud. “This better be an emergency.” The window closed with a slam.

She sounded irritated and Nick felt a little guilty as he picked up the keys. It wasn’t the first time he’d come to Alyssa in the middle of the night, asking for help. She’d always let him in, but maybe he’d started taking her friendship for granted? He’d have to do something about that. Alyssa was one of the few people he could trust. He couldn’t afford to lose her.

He unlocked the front door, climbed the stairs to her third floor apartment, and let himself in. The light was lit in the hallway, and Alyssa stood in the open door to the bedroom, a robe hastily thrown on over her pyjamas. Her braids hung loose around her shoulders and she looked a little groggy, just like someone who had been woken up too early in the morning by a friend who was more trouble than he was worth. 

She might have been angry before, but when she took in his bedraggled, shivering appearance, her look immediately softened. 

“God, Nick,” she said, taking a few steps towards him. “You look like hell. What happened?”

Nick leaned back against the door and closed his eyes. He didn’t even know where to begin. He tried to get his thoughts in order, found the faint background hum of Alyssa’s TiVo, her laptop, the radio in the kitchen, and let the electronic melody calm him down. 

He opened his eyes again when he felt hands on his jacket, and found Alyssa trying to peel it off him. 

“Please tell me you didn’t go running in this weather? Come on, we need to get you warm. What were you _thinking_?”

Nick felt a deep lethargy threaten to pull him down. The run had left him completely exhausted and he’d only slept for a few hours. The cold didn’t help. Alyssa marched him into the bathroom, handed him a blanket, and ordered him to strip out of his sweat-damp clothes. Nick did so, while trying not to look at his own reflection in the mirror, but the bathroom was small and it was impossible not to catch the occasional glimpse.

He did look terrible, pale and wan, with enormous black bags under his eyes. The hickey on his throat stood out in sharp contrast to the clamminess of his skin. He couldn’t stop shivering, even after he’d shed his clothes and left them in a sad little heap on the bathroom floor. The blanket helped a little, but it wasn’t enough. It was like he’d never get warm again. This was just how he’d felt like after Fabian. He wondered if Alyssa was flashing back to that night as well. 

Nick rescued Leo’s wallet from his pocket and gripped it tight as he stepped out of the bathroom. Alyssa had left her old, worn sheepskin slippers outside the door and he gratefully slid his feet inside them. They were a bit too small for his knobbly feet, but they fit well enough and it was better than going barefoot.

Alyssa just came out of the kitchen, holding two steaming mugs. “Couch,” she ordered, waving one mug in the direction of the front room. Nick went without protest, happy to let someone else take the lead for the moment. 

He parked himself on one end, pulled his feet up off the floor, and wrapped the blanket tighter around himself. Leo’s wallet ended up on the low sofa table. It looked harmless lying there, next to Alyssa’s TV guide and the plate of candles on the table top. 

Alyssa handed him one of the mugs and Nick sniffed it. He looked up with a raised eyebrow. “Hot chocolate?” 

“Drink it,” Alyssa told him and sat down on the other end of the couch. “You need to warm up and you need the sugar. And you need to tell me what’s got you in this kind of state. When I left, you were flirting with Captain America. What happened?”

Nick sipped the chocolate. She must have made it the way her mother used to, with hot milk and real dark chocolate instead of cocoa powder. It had a rich, somewhat bitter taste, and it actually made Nick feel a lot better.

He reached out and picked the wallet up, handed it to Alyssa for inspection, and then told her the whole story, starting with how he’d invited Leo over and ending with the confrontation in the workshop. 

When he was done, Alyssa was staring at him. “Damn,” she said finally. She got up, walked over to the liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of amber colored liquid. “If it was someone else, I’d say you were making up a story but...” she trailed off. “Damn,” she repeated again. 

She came back to the couch and splashed a healthy measure of scotch into Nick’s mug, and then did the same with her own. Then she picked up the wallet and opened it, taking out the driver’s licence. “He’s good,” she said, studying the picture. “He sure had me fooled.”

“Me too,” Nick agreed. 

“Did you check out this address?” Alyssa asked, waving the card at him. 

Nick shook his head. “Not yet. I didn’t know if it would do any good. It could be a fake, he could’ve been using a false identity.” 

Alyssa studied the licence again, peering at it with some scrutiny. “Well, this is real, that’s for sure. I’m a bartender, I can tell a fake ID from a real one.”

“If he’s working for Fabian, he wouldn’t have a problem getting hold of professionally forged documents,” Nick argued. “I can think of at least three people who’d be able to do something like this. But I’ll check it up, just in case.” He drank some more hot chocolate, feeling the pleasant burn of the scotch. “What I don’t get is, why the act? Why not just break into my place? It wouldn’t be that hard. This stinks of Fabian. It’s just his kind of mind game.”

“Are you sure?” Alyssa frowned. “I didn’t get that vibe off him. I don’t know, he just seemed like he really liked you.”

“Yeah, he’s an excellent actor,” Nick said. “He had both of us fooled. He had _Ev_ fooled. That doesn’t happen often.”

“So what are we going to do?”

Nick leaned back and sighed. “I have to find out more about this guy,” he said. “And I might have to talk to Gina again. See if I can get any clue what they’re up to.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. What was he looking at anyway? I mean, I’ve seen your insurance package, I’ve seen more of it than I _want_ to. Was there anything in particular he was after?”

Nick thought back and tried to remember the images that had been on Charlotta’s screen when he’d surprised Leo in the workshop. “Yes, I think so,” he said. He looked around the front room, took in the paintings on the walls, the big green houseplants in the corners. “Do you keep it around here?” he asked. 

“Yeah, hold on.” Alyssa got up and walked over to one of the paintings, something modernist with bright colors. She reached up behind it and pulled out a small black flashdrive. She waved it in Nick’s direction, and headed over to the desk in the corner to bring her laptop to the couch. 

Nick was impatient enough to reach out and turn the computer on while she was still holding it. Alyssa glared at him. “Don’t do that,” she said. “I’ve asked you to stay away from my stuff.”

She sat down and popped the drive in. A number of files showed up on the screen and Nick scanned through them until he found the one he was after. “There,” he said, pointing. “Open that one.” 

Alyssa did as he asked. This particular file contained police reports, case files, and a large number of crime scene photos. Nick brought the pictures up on the screen. The first one was a close up of a middle-aged man in an ill fitting suit. He was very obviously dead, his skin a white-bluish hue, and his lips vividly purple. There were tiny drops of water in his eyelashes, the remains of rapidly melting ice.

Nick quickly browsed through the rest of the photos. There were three more male victims and two female. All of them bore the same signs of having frozen to death. For some of them, it wasn’t completely implausible, but the last woman had been found in a park in the middle of summer. The first file was dated almost seven years ago, and the last one was no more than six months old. It had taken Nick some work to get hold of that one.

The papers had dubbed the murderer ‘the Popsicle killer’ at first. Then, someone had obviously had a talk with a few journalists and the media’s attention had trickled down to almost nothing. The police still had an open file on the murders, but there was no one on the case. Nick had kept an eye open for any activity while he’d been with Fabian, but nothing had ever come out of it. As far as the Popsicle killer was concerned, there were no leads. 

“This is nasty,” Alyssa said, watching the photos on the screen with a disgusted grimace. “And this is what your Mr Perfect was after? I don’t like this at all.” Her accent, always more noticeable when she was upset or agitated, was out in full force now.

Nick didn’t even have the energy to protest at her ‘Mr Perfect’ quip. He knew this was bad news. The Popsicle killings were one of the few things that would really hurt Fabian if the police was to find a new lead in the case. Nick knew more than enough about them to be a serious threat. That was the reason Fabian had left him alone for so long. Until now.

He popped the drive out of the laptop again and put it down on the table. “I’m going to bring this somewhere else,” he said, tapping his finger against the black plastic cover. “I don’t want you keeping it here. If Fabian would send someone to my place to get this information, he could send someone to you. I can’t risk that.”

Alyssa frowned. “I’m a big girl, Nick,” she said. “I can look after myself. If he decides to go after me, he better be prepared to deal with Everett too.”

She had a point. Ev didn’t like to get involved in anything that didn’t concern his bar, but he was fiercely protective of his employees. If there was anyone in the community who could stand up to Fabian, it was Ev. It was almost a pity Everett refused to take that kind of stand. The showdown would have been epic to watch.

“I don’t doubt that for a minute.” Nick grabbed the disc. “But I don’t want to get you into this kind of trouble. It was okay as long as it was just insurance. It’s worse than that now. I’ll bring it to the Librarian.”

“The Librarian has a price,” Alyssa reminded him.

“It’ll be worth it.”

Alyssa nodded. “All right.” She stretched out her back and yawned. “It’s too damn early for this. I’m going to bed and I’m going to sleep at least until the sun is up. I’ll put your things in the dryer.”

She left Nick on the couch. He could hear her rummage around in the apartment, moving from room to room, until she went into the bedroom and closed the door. Nick curled up and tried to get warm. The hot drink had helped a little bit, but as always, any thought of Fabian immediately made him feel like he’d been left in a meat locker with no way out. 

There was a headache forming behind his eyes, the persistent, pounding pain that came with too much stress and too little sleep. Nick grabbed Leo’s driver’s license from the table and lay back on the couch, studying the photo.

Leo’s cornflower blue eyes seemed to be meeting Nick’s. No one looked good in their ID picture and Leo had a decidedly dorky expression in his. He looked like he’d just come to think of something hilarious and was trying hard not to laugh out loud.

Nick took out the photo of the woman and the girl and studied that one too. Leo had sounded genuinely concerned when talking about his family. Had that been an act too, or did Fabian have something on him? Somehow, Nick liked that thought more. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t imagine Leo Harding working for Fabian Frost exclusively for his own gain. That kind of thing was more Nick’s style.

He’d have to go check out the address on the driver’s license later, see what else he could find out. Damn it! He’d been so sure he’d managed to get out clean, that he’d be able to put his life with Fabian behind him. 

What was Fabian up to anyway? One more thing Nick needed to figure out. He knew Fabian was more or less incapable of caring for someone on a personal level. His displeasure with Nick walking away had been purely about pride. He’d always seen his people as objects, possessions, and he had not been prepared to accept Nick leaving. 

Nick still remembered that evening. He’d known well enough what kind of man Fabian was, but that night he’d actually feared for his own life. The penthouse was always cold, but when Fabian had walked in and discovered Nick’s packed bags, ice flowers had formed on the glass windows, and his breath had turned into a white plume in the air. 

He shivered at the thought, snuggling down under the blanket. The only thing that had made it possible to get out of there alive had been the information he’d painstakingly collected over the last year, every dirty little shred he’d been able to get his hands on. 

Lying here on Alyssa’s couch, trying to chase the chill out of his bones, brought back the memories of doing the exact same thing thirteen months ago. Back then, he hadn’t been sure if he was going to make it. He’d spent so long looking over his shoulder, expecting someone to come after him and drag him back. You didn’t leave Fabian Frost. It just wasn’t done.

Only, Nick had done it, and he’d be damned if he was going to let Fabian win now, after all this time.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

Nick slept fitfully for about two hours until a car alarm went off on the street below and he rolled off the couch and went down in a tangle of arms, legs, and blanket. He still had the headache he’d fallen asleep with and it was beginning to turn impossible to ignore. 

He managed to get himself free of the blanket and then wrapped it around his shoulders, heading for the kitchen. On the way there, he passed Alyssa’s full length hall mirror and caught a glimpse of himself, a skinny figure with hairy legs sticking out from under the blanket, feet disappearing into the too small slippers. He looked ridiculous and couldn’t hold back a snort at his own miserable appearance. 

The dryer had finished the cycle. Nick opened the hatch and got out his sweats and the t-shirt. They weren’t clean, but at least they were warm and dry and he put them on. He drank a glass of water, hoping the fluids would chase away the headache, and then he leaned back against the counter, trying to think.

Maybe the best course of action would be to follow his first instinct and just disappear. He knew people who would be able to set him up with a new identity. He could go completely off the map, find a new place somewhere else, somewhere _warm_. If he was careful enough, Fabian would never find him. Nick didn’t really care about admitting defeat. If all this trouble had sprung from him staying in Chicago and rubbing Fabian’s face in his small victory, then the obvious solution was to take himself out of the equation.

The big question was, would Fabian stop there? If Nick chose to disappear, what would happen to Alyssa? There was no way she’d allow him to leave without knowing where he went. Fabian would know that, and he would come after her, maybe come after her family, her mother and her siblings. 

The thought filled Nick with anger, burning hot and strong enough that it almost surprised himself. What right did Fabian have to do this? They’d had an understanding, a _deal_ , even if it had never been put on paper and signed. Fabian was supposed to leave him alone. Why was he going back on his promise now?

It wasn’t very thought out, Nick knew that even as he went to find his cell phone, but he couldn’t stand all this waiting and theorizing any more. He wanted some answers, and he wanted them _now_.

The signals were going through. No voice mail. Of course, Nick was one of only a handful of people who knew this number. Unless it had been changed, but he somehow doubted that. He held his breath and was just about to change his mind and disconnect the call, when someone picked up on the other end.

“Hello, Nicky. How nice to hear from you.”

His voice hadn’t changed one bit. Still soft, smooth, and polished, with just enough artificial charm in it that the average listener could be fooled. It sounded like liquid sex, like a shot of expensive vodka straight from the freezer. 

Nick swallowed. He hadn’t expected it to still affect him so much. “Fabian,” he said. His voice was surprisingly steady, even though the hand holding the phone was trembling a little. He put it on speaker and put it down on the kitchen counter so he could grip the edge.

“Have you been thinking over my offer? Gina said you were very rude to her yesterday. I thought you had better manners than that, my pet.”

Well, that was a nickname Nick hadn’t missed, nor did he miss the dismissive tone of voice it was said with. “There’s nothing I need to think over. The answer’s still no. I’m just calling to tell you to keep your people out of my life.”

Nick could hear Fabian’s footsteps on the exclusive marble floor of his penthouse. He’d probably been up for a while already. Fabian had always been an early riser. 

“If that’s really what you want,” came Fabian’s silky voice through the line. “But you are making a mistake, as I’m sure Gina already told you. Come on now, Nicky. You can’t convince me that you like living that quaint little life, toeing the line when you should be flying over it. You weren’t made for that purpose. If you’d just be willing to take the time to listen to my proposal, I’m sure you will agree with me. How about dinner tonight at the Everest? You always enjoyed their lobster.”

Nick clenched his jaw. The ‘yes’ was on the tip of his tongue, just waiting to roll off. He took a deep breath. “Forget about it,” he said. “Just call your guy off. I’ve made arrangements, there’s nothing here for him to find anymore.”

Fabian let out an bemused little noise. “If you insist.” Was Nick wrong, or was there just a hint of puzzlement in his voice? It was only there for a moment, and when Fabian continued, there was not a trace of it. “You know where to find me when you change your mind.”

“Don’t count on it.” Nick shut the phone off with a thought, leaned forward, and rested his forehead against the cool counter. What the hell had all that been about? It made no sense. He felt off-balance, like he always did after a conversation with Fabian. Half their time together had consisted of Nick desperately trying to gain some kind of foothold and failing. He never wanted to go back to that again. Promises of luxury dinners held very little attraction in the light of what they would cost him in the long run.

When he straightened up again and turned around, he found Alyssa standing in the kitchen door, leaning against the door frame. She’d changed out of her pyjamas and into a pair of jeans and a purple shirt that set off her dark skin beautifully. Her braids were tied together in a big knot on the top of her head, their beads clicking together every time she moved.

“You called him?” she asked. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she didn’t look happy.

Nick nodded. “I had to know.”

“That wasn’t very smart.” Alyssa paused. “What did he say?”

“Not much. The usual condescending bullshit. He wants to meet.” 

“And what did _you_ say?”

“I told him to get lost.”

Alyssa barked out a humorless laugh. “That’s something at least.” She walked over to the fridge and opened it. “I’m making breakfast. Do you want eggs?”

“I guess.” He wasn’t really hungry, but he knew he had to eat something. It might help with the headache at least.

Alyssa spent enough time in here to give the kitchen a cozy, lived-in feeling. There was a row of fresh herbs in little pots on the windowsill and a bowl full of ripe lemons sitting on the counter next to the empty chocolate mugs from earlier. She had some designer tins full of coffee and tea next to the coffee maker and Nick pointed at them. “I wouldn’t mind some coffee.”

“Help yourself,” Alyssa said, still with her head inside the fridge. She emerged a little later with her hands full of eggs, tomatoes and a block of cheese. “I think there’s some toast in the freezer if you want it. It’s whole grain, Mom’s on a health trip again.”

“She still shops for you?” Nick asked. He got up and walked over to the coffee machine, grabbing the pot to fill it with cold water from the tap. 

“I’ve told her to stop, but she won’t listen.” Alyssa rolled her eyes and lowered her voice into the octave of an older woman with a much stronger accent. “‘You work all the time, baby, I’m just trying to make sure you’re taking good care of yourself.’ Really, I ought to sic her on you instead!”

She took out a frying pan and started whisking the eggs for an omelet. Nick started a pot of coffee, took mugs and plates out of the cupboard, and set the table. 

“You know, I’m not sure it was Fabian who sent Leo after all,” he said when he was done. “It was subtle, but I got the impression he had no idea what I was talking about.”

“All right?” Alyssa turned around, wielding a spatula in one hand and the egg whisk in the other. “So who _did_ send him? A competitor?”

“Fabian _has_ no competitors.” Nick poured himself some coffee and put the pot back on the plate to finish. “I have no idea. It could be Gina, I guess. Fabian doesn’t know about everything she does and she always liked to keep tabs on me.”

Alyssa shuddered. “Now that is one creepy woman, and I’m not just talking about the mindreading. She’d sell out her mother if she thought it’d give her the upper hand.” She poked at the omelet in the pan, declared it ready, and split it neatly in two, depositing one piece on her own plate and the other on Nick’s.

He picked up his fork and ate some of the eggs. It was good, just like everything else out of Alyssa’s kitchen, but he already knew he’d never be able to finish it. After the accident, he just hadn’t been able to get back to his normal eating habits again. He wondered sometimes if the implant had messed with the hunger center of his brain. 

“I’m going to check out that address,” he told Alyssa as she joined him at the table and started eating. “It’s probably a fake, but at least it’s somewhere to start.”

“Mhm.” She had her mouth full of eggs, but quickly chewed and continued. “You want company? I’m not going on shift until tonight.”

“No, I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I don’t even know if it’ll lead anywhere.” He put his fork down, already feeling full. “I was wondering if you could do me a favour though? Can you take that drive to the Librarian? Don’t worry about the money, she knows I’m good for it. I just don’t like the thought of you having it in the house until we know for sure who’s after that information.”

“All right.” Alyssa nodded thoughtfully. “You know, the Librarian would probably know the answer to that question.”

Nick snorted. “I’m not good for _that_ much money.” He reached out over the table and grabbed Alyssa’s hand, squeezing lightly. “Listen, I wanted to thank you for... well, everything. You don’t have to do all this for me.”

She smiled at him and squeezed his fingers back. “Of course I do. Isn’t that what friends are for?” Then her smile grew wider. “Besides, you owe me big now, mister, and one of these days, I’m going to collect.”

“Anything,” Nick laughed. 

They finished breakfast and Nick helped Alyssa clean up. Then he went home to shower and change his clothes. His heart felt a lot lighter than it had earlier in the morning. Alyssa’s company usually had that effect on him. It was light out now, and people were passing him in the street, but Nick didn’t pay them a lot of attention. He couldn’t stop thinking about that phone call with Fabian, that moment of hesitation when Nick had mentioned Leo. Had it been genuine or a meticulously planned act? Maybe he ought to go to that dinner anyway, just to find out what Fabian was up to?

But no. Nick knew far too well that it wouldn’t just stop with dinner. He had searched Fabian out for a reason, but he had stayed with the man for a completely different reason. Fabian Frost knew how to influence people and catch them in his thrall. He was a predator and you were the prey, and yet somehow, he could make you forget all that. Before you knew it, you would be bending over backwards to keep his attention, you’d eat out of his hand and be grateful for any scraps he felt like throwing in your direction. 

There was no way Nick was going back to that. He couldn’t afford to. Walking away had been hard enough the first time, he wouldn’t be able to do it again.

The apartment looked just like it had when he’d left earlier. Nick went down to check the workshop and the security system, but nothing showed any signs of tampering. He looked at Charlotta’s burned-out shell and sighed. He’d have to get working on that as soon as he came back from his little errand.

Nick spent half an hour in the shower with the water as hot as he could stand it. He shaved, put on clean clothes and dried his hair, noting that a few grey hairs were beginning to grow in with the black at his temples. Damn it. He was only thirty two. It was far too early for him to start going grey. 

He blamed Leo. There had been no grey hairs before Nick had met him, he was sure of it.

The address on Leo’s driver’s licence was in Jefferson Park, on the Northwest Side. Nick took the L over there and spent the time watching the commuters, amusing himself with making up little stories about their lives. Some time later, he stepped off the train and pulled his collar up against the wind. 

It wasn’t a long walk from the stop. Nick walked slowly, with his hands stuck deep into his pockets. He was dragging his feet and he wasn’t sure why. Was he afraid that the address was fake and he’d have to find another way to figure out who Leo Harding was and what he wanted? Or was he afraid that it was the real deal and he had to come face to face with the man again? He couldn’t decide. Life had made him suspicious on principle, but a niggling little feeling deep down in his gut told him that Leo’s story had to be more complicated than it seemed. Or was that just wishful thinking?

Then he saw the house. It was a nice little place, just the right size for a small family. There was a car in the driveway, a Toyota that looked like it had a whole bunch of miles on the meter. There was enough room there for another car as well, but it was nowhere to be seen. A large green tarp was covering something that had to be a motorcycle underneath.

As Nick watched, the front door opened, and the girl he had seen in the picture stepped out onto the porch. She looked ready for school, in a red winter jacket with tufts of fake fur on the hood, and a backpack strapped to her back. She walked down the steps, towards the bike that stood parked on the other side of the Toyota. 

Then, the door opened a little wider and Leo stepped outside. Nick drew a sharp breath. Leo was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, showing no signs of being bothered by the winter chill in the air. He said something to the girl and she turned around and waved at him, which brought a wide smile to his face. 

Watching it made something hard and jagged in Nick’s stomach twist and turn sharply. He closed his eyes and quickly locked the feeling away. This was what he was here for, wasn’t it? And this should be a good sign. It was obvious from the short exchange that Leo loved his daughter very much. If all else failed, Nick could use that to his advantage.

The girl got on her bike and rode down the driveway, onto the street. Nick lowered his head when she passed him, trying not to make it too obvious than he’d been watching her.Then he looked up, and found Leo’s eyes firmly fixed on him. 

All right, that had not been part of the plan. Nick swallowed. His first instinct was to just turn around and walk away again, go back home. But then he’d have no chance of getting any more answers. He headed for the house instead.

Leo was standing on the porch, his arms crossed over his broad chest. He looked pissed and more than a little scary. Every trace of the friendly guy from yesterday was gone.

“You stole my wallet,” he said.

Nick shrugged. “You tried to steal my files.”

“I can’t believe you came to my _house_.”

“You came to mine. I guess that makes us even.”

Leo walked down the porch steps, his hand held out in front of him in a demanding gesture. “If I’m not mistaken, you invited me in. Give it back.”

Nick reached into his pocket and took out the wallet, holding it between two fingers. “What I don’t get,” he said. “Is why you would risk giving the man you were trying to rob access to your personal information? You’re good, I mean, you even had _me_ fooled, but that was just sloppy. I’d be prepared to believe you were a pro if not for that detail.”

“Yeah, it was stupid. My mistake.” Leo crooked his fingers, waving them in a ‘gimme’ gesture. “Come on, hand it over. There’s nothing in there you can use anyway, unless you’re so strapped for cash that you need my spare change.”

Nick ignored him and continued. “So not a professional then. And then there is all this.” He waved his hand, indicated the house. “Nice home, happy little family. Not usually the kind of life you’d expect a hardcore criminal to lead. Trust me, I would know. So I’m thinking, at some point in the past, maybe you made a stupid mistake, nothing big, just enough for someone to get their hooks into you. Maybe they said that if you didn’t do exactly what they told you, they’d go after that beautiful little girl who just went off to school.” 

Leo stepped even closer, his hand clenching into a fist. “Are you threatening her?”

“Do you think that’s something I would do, considering I’m such a good person?” Nick tilted his head to the side and shot off his very best shit-eating grin. He was planning to throw that back into Leo’s face every opportunity he got. “No, really, I’m just trying out a hypothetical scenario here. I’d like to know who you are, that’s all.”

He was finally starting to understand what had made Leo blip on his radar in the first place. Nick hadn’t picked up on it while he’d still thought Leo was a nice guy all the way through and it had puzzled him a little bit. He’d never been interested in guys like that before and, had always needed a little bit of that dangerous thrill to get him going. Nick had seen a hint of it two nights ago when Leo had stood up to Lonnie Leblanc, but on a whole, Leo had been very successful at hiding his real self, had worn the mask of an innocent boy like that was the whole truth.

This person, right here, had to be the real Leo. He carried himself with a sense of self-confidence and gravitas that left a lasting impression. He stood in front of his house looking like he was prepared to defend it with his last breath. Nick suddenly got the image of an ancient warrior stuck in modern times, someone trying to uphold noble ideals only to find them incompatible with the general mindset of the present day.

“I thought you never wanted to see my face again,” Leo said, sounding very put-upon. He was relaxing a little bit, unclenching the fist, and that made Nick release a bit of tension from his own body. “Now you suddenly want to know everything about me?”

Nick had no idea where the conversation was going. Coming here, he hadn’t planned for a confrontation. He hadn’t even expected to find Leo at this address. He shrugged. “If I’m going to have people coming after me, I want to know who and what I can expect. Just protecting my own interests, you see. You don’t stay alive for too long in my line of business if you lack self-preservation instincts. Just tell me what I need to know and I’ll leave. Your family won’t have to find out about me.” 

Leo crossed his arms impatiently, looking like he was beginning to get fed up with the conversation. “You think I’m some kind of gangster, is that it?”

“That seems to be the logical conclusion, yes.” Nick realized he’d started waving his hands around with uncharacteristic heat. ”The big question is who you’re working for. I’m fairly confident that you’re not in Fabian’s pocket. Is Gina Blackburn making a grab for power? One of the old families? In that case, I can tell you right away that you’re betting on the wrong horse, it’s over for them and they know it. They lost the battle the same moment Fabian set foot in this city. So, which one of them is it?” 

He’d come unprepared and had more or less been thinking out loud up until this point. It wasn’t his favored tactic but sometimes it could help shake things loose. But nothing could have prepared Nick for the answer he was getting. 

Leo gave him an utterly bewildered look and said, “Nick, I’m a _cop_.”


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Of all the conceivable possibilities, this was the one Nick hadn’t even considered. He’d been completely stuck on the players from his own side of the fence, people from his world. Nick felt his chin drop and realized he had to be looking exceptionally stupid.

“You’re a cop,” he repeated dumbly.

Leo gave him a impatient look, crossing his arms over his chest. “Of course I’m a cop. What did you _think_? No, on second thought, don’t answer that.” He let his hands fall to his sides, turned his eyes heavenwards, and sighed. “You know what, I’m sorry about all this, all right? I shouldn’t have used you that way, but I’ve been trying to get a new lead in the Popsicle killer case for months. I saw an opportunity and I took it. Happy now?”

Nick floundered to regain his equilibrium. “I don’t think ‘happy’ is the word I’d use,” he said weakly. “You thought you’d get a lead from _me_?”

“Come on, everyone knows it’s Fabian Frost!” Leo spread his arms in a frustrated gesture. “But no one’s _talking_.”

“Gee, I wonder why that is,” Nick interrupted. 

Leo ignored him and continued. “Once we hit a certain point in the investigation, everyone just clams up. We haven’t been able to get a word out of anyone in the community even when we’ve offered protection. We’re at a dead end, that’s why I came down to that bar. I didn’t even know I’d find you there, but when I did, I figured it was my only chance to get any inside information, one way or another.” He stopped and rubbed a face over his head, suddenly looking weary and dejected. “Shit, what a mess.” He sighed. “Do you have that gun on you?”

“No.” Nick shook his head. He’d thought about it, but decided that it wasn’t worth the risk of getting caught with a weapon he didn’t have a license for.

“All right.” Leo half turned towards the house, waving his hand in the direction of the still-open front door. “You better come inside before the neighbors start talking. We get enough of that as it is.” 

Nick caught movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced over his shoulder. In one of the windows on the house on the other side of the street, the curtain quickly slid back into place. Leo followed his gaze and raised a hand to wave at whoever was hiding in there, a strained smile on his face. 

“Nosy old bat,” he muttered and turned on his heel. “Come on in. Just so you know, I’m doing this against my better judgement.”

He led the way into the house, closed the door behind them, and locked it. They entered a light, roomy hallway. The wallpaper was covered in tiny yellow flowers and there was a nest of shoes of different sizes on the floor. A low dresser stood against one wall, cluttered with mail and assorted knick-knacks. There was a small bowl that seemed to be meant for keys and other tiny things that were easily lost, but it was flooding over with things like hair clasps, empty key rings and small shiny rocks. Nick’s gaze was drawn towards the the other end of the hall, where a staircase led to the second floor, and a doorway led into the rest of the house.

Leo toed his shoes off, left them on top of the heap, and walked through the doorway, motioning for Nick to follow him. 

The rest of the house had that same light, airy feeling. There was an obvious woman’s touch to the decorating, lots of flower prints and nature pictures on the walls. There were plenty of photographs too, mostly of the daughter at various ages, but there were also some pictures of Leo and his wife, and pictures of her together with another man, a relative perhaps. In some pictures, an older woman was also present. From the looks of it, she had to be Leo’s wife’s mother; the family resemblance was uncanny.

Nick trailed after Leo into the kitchen, eyes roaming to try to take in as much information as possible so he could form an image of the inhabitants of the house. Along with the family pictures, there were also a few crayon drawings, lovingly framed and preserved.

It seemed like a nice house to grow up in, nothing at all like the run down apartment building where Nick had spent most of his childhood. There had always been someone shouting somewhere, the elevator had smelled of beer and piss, and no one had as much as raised an eyebrow at all the empty liquor bottles Nick’s mother had been carrying down the stairs every week. Leo’s daughter was a lucky little girl. 

“Nice place,” Nick said as he stepped into the kitchen. There was a bowl of fruit on the counter and Leo reached out and grabbed an apple from it when he walked by. 

“Thanks.” Leo pulled out a chair, turned it around, and straddled it backwards, folding his arms over the back. He took a bite out of the apple and started talking with his mouth still full. “Listen, the higher-ups are about to pull the plug on my investigation and I needed _something_. I didn’t expect you to invite me over, but when you did... it was a one in a million opportunity and I had to take it.”

Nick took a look around the kitchen. A stereo on the windowsill and a microwave oven on the counter provided a faint background hum. There was a lot of stuff stuck to the fridge door with brightly coloured magnets; more drawings, school schedules, shopping lists. There was also a photograph of Leo’s wife and daughter, raking leaves in the garden. They were both smiling for the camera.

“So, do the Chicago PD approve of their officers whoring themselves out for information?” Nick walked over to the fridge and pulled down the picture, waving it at Leo. “What about your wife, does she know?” 

“Wife? Where the hell did you get that from?” Leo jumped out of his seat and snatched the picture out of Nick’s hand, almost tearing it in the process “That’s my _sister_ , you unbelievable asshole!” 

Once again, Nick felt his foundation waver and shift underneath him. “Sister? And the girl?”

“My niece,” Leo said shortly. He put the photo back up on the fridge, carefully smoothing a thumb over it as if checking for damage. “Not that it’s any of your business. Leave my family alone, okay? Don’t think I won’t wreck you if anything happens to them.” The last came out in a near snarl. He was obviously very serious.

Nick held up both hands, backing away. “Whoa, it’s not _me_ you should be worried about! What are you doing investigating Fabian anyway? I thought they put that file into the cold case drawer ages ago, if you’ll excuse the pun.”

“It’s a new thing.” Leo turned around. “There are criminals with special abilities, so they decided that there ought to be cops with special abilities as well.” He snorted a self-deprecating little laugh and pointed a thumb at himself. “Well, I’m it. They let me re-open the investigation hoping I’d be able to dig something up than the normal cops couldn’t. I’ve been trying for months, but I haven’t had any luck.”

That made a lot of sense, actually. Nick had followed the debate and heard the voices calling out for resources to handle superpowered crime in the city. He’d just had no idea that they had gone through with it already. 

“Until I came along and threw myself right in your lap. Must’ve been like Christmas.” Nick chuckled and shook his head. “You _are_ good. I never suspected a thing. You walking into the Showroom with that wide-eyed innocent look, asking curious questions that everyone were happy to answer because you were just so _nice_. That how you found out about me?”

Leo’s face was stony, devoid of all emotion. “I already knew about you. It didn’t exactly go unnoticed when you walked out on Frost. The police were already talking about snatching you up back then. They knew you were involved, but they had nothing on you, nothing they could prove. You’re good at covering your tracks.”

“It’s what I do.” Nick frowned. “So if I was the only lead you had, why didn’t you just approach me directly?”

“If I had, would you have trusted me?” 

Nick gave him a steady look. “I don’t trust you _now_.”

Leo sat down on the chair again and sighed deeply, scrubbing his hand over his face. He looked tired, Nick thought. Like someone who had worked long and hard for something, only to be ultimately disappointed. He knew that feeling.

“All right. Fair enough.” Leo looked up. “Can I ask one thing though? Those files you keep on your computer could give us pretty much everything we need to make a case against Frost. If you turned them over, he’d probably end up in prison for a very long time. Why are you still holding on to them? It makes no sense to me.”

Nick leaned back against the kitchen counter. It felt vaguely surreal to be standing here in this nice, cozy house and discuss ugly business like this. “Why? It’s simple. I don’t _care_ if Fabian goes to prison or not.”

“Really?” Leo looked sceptical. “Look, I’m not trying to pry here, but from what I’ve heard, he hurt you pretty badly.” There was a soft look of compassion on his face. Nick couldn’t help wondering who he had been talking to. The only people who knew the whole truth of what had happened between him and Fabian were Alyssa and Ev. Alyssa wouldn’t have said anything, but it was possible that Everett might have. 

Anger surged through Nick and he tried to clamp down on it and put it away. All that was behind him now. He clenched his jaw and shook his head slowly. “I can’t say he’s my favourite person in the world, no. But I’m not after revenge. I just want to be left alone. Besides,” he looked up. “You said it yourself, I’m good at covering my tracks. Why do you think you haven’t been able to find something to connect Fabian to those murders? Because I made sure there wouldn’t be anything. I _created_ every dead end you’ve encountered so far.”

“And you’re okay with that? Letting a murderer walk free?” 

Nick shrugged, pushing away the burn in his gut. “Those people he killed were no saints either. And I _walked away_. You already said that the police don’t have anything on me. Why do you think that is?” He didn’t wait for Leo’s answer before he continued. “Because Fabian hasn’t supplied them with any information. The only reason I could get out when I did was because of those files, okay? And Fabian has a dossier exactly like that one, only _his_ file implicates _me_ in a whole lot of crimes. It’s a live and let live situation.”

It was difficult to get a read on Leo’s expression. There was a lot of darkness in that look, and a fair bit of disappointed dejection as well. Nick felt his stomach churn again. He told himself that it didn’t matter to him what Leo thought, but he couldn’t deny that it had felt a little bit good to have Leo see him as a decent human being. That illusion was gone now.

“All right.” Leo nodded slowly. “And if there was a way to offer you immunity in exchange for testifying?”

Nick threw his hands up in frustration. “What would be the point? Even if you can put Fabian away, someone else will just step in to take his place. That’s the way these things work. Who’s to say that the new guy won’t be ten times worse? Or the new woman,” he added, thinking of Gina Blackburn. 

It was hard to see that downcast look on Leo’s face. Nick suddenly felt the need to give him _something_ at least. It wouldn’t hurt to have a contact on the force. “It probably won’t matter one way or the other,” he said. “If what I’ve heard is correct, Fabian is up to something big. The Popsicle killings might not even be a concern to him anymore.”

Leo’s head shot up. “How so?” he asked. “I’ve been through it over and over. There’s no way to get him on corruption charges, he runs all his illegal businesses through middlemen. The only thing we have that we could possibly make stick are the murders. What do you know about it?”

“Nothing.” Nick suddenly regretted saying anything. “I don’t _want_ to know anything. I called him this morning to try to find out what he knew about _you_ , which is apparently nothing by the way, so no need to worry about that. He hinted at a business proposition that he had for me and invited me to dinner tonight, I said no, end of story.”

Leo got up from the chair and started to pace around the table, a speculative look on his face. “This is huge,” he said eventually, stopping in front of Nick. “Listen, I should be able to cut you a pretty good deal. Would you be willing to go to this dinner, wear a wire? If we can get a bead on what Frost is planning before he has the time to put his plan in motion, it would be an incredible help to us. If you assist us with this, I swear I’ll do everything I can to get you full immunity for any felonies you committed while you were working for him. What do you think?”

“I think you’re insane,” Nick shot back. “I think there’s no way in hell I’m even pretending to go back to him again. Sorry, but you’re on your own here. I don’t want anything more to do with it.”

“Not even if you could save people from getting hurt?” It was clear that Leo had expected a different answer. Maybe he still held those foolish notions about Nick’s relative decency.

“What good would that do? Someone else is just going to come along and hurt them instead.” Nick straightened up. “I’d say I enjoyed talking to you, but I’d be lying.”

Leo sat down again, slumping over the backrest of the chair. He looked like a sulking little kid. “Yeah, whatever.” Then he stood up and walked over to the counter where he dug around in a pile of papers until he found a small white business card. “Here, take this. Just in case you change your mind.”

Nick hesitated, but ended up accepting the card. Their fingers brushed together when he took it out of Leo’s hand and it felt almost like a tiny little spark passed between them. If Leo noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“I won’t,” Nick said, flipping the card through his fingers before he tucked it into his coat pocket. He already knew he shouldn’t have taken it. Now he had a way of contacting Leo readily available. That didn’t bode well.

The little talk was clearly over. Leo showed him to the door and held it open, as if trying to make sure he was really leaving and not sticking around to stir up trouble. A pale winter sun was shining outside and the nosy neighbor on the other side of the street was still spying from behind her curtain. This time, Leo ignored her, even though he must have noticed.

Just as he was leaving, one last question flashed through Nick’s mind and he turned around, one foot still on the porch step, the other on the garden path leading out onto the street.

“Can I ask you something?”

Leo looked up, a half-hopeful look on his face. “Sure.”

“Are you even into men, or was that a lie too?” Nick did his very best to keep his voice light and not let on just how much that particular betrayal had gotten to him. 

Leo’s eyes narrowed before all emotion seemed to seep out of his expression, leaving only a blank, somewhat affronted look. “What do _you_ think?” he asked. Before Nick had a chance to respond, he’d taken a step back and closed the door.

Nick stood there for a few moments, staring at the door. What was _that_ supposed to mean? Then, he slowly shook his head to himself, a smile playing over his lips. He _liked_ this version of Leo. This man read as a grown-up variant of the puppy-eager kid he’d gotten to know over the last two days. He was still one of the good guys, obviously, but he also seemed to have a bit of a nasty streak. It was a refreshing change.

It was also something that was better pondered elsewhere.

He walked down the path and into the street, noting that both the drive and the sidewalk were shoveled. He waved his hand in a cheerful greeting to the spying neighbor and saw the curtain fall back again. That would never stop being amusing.

Leo’s card was burning a hole in his pocket as he walked back to the train. His fingers were itching to take it out and study it, and he clenched his hands and kept walking. He didn’t _want_ to get involved. Yes, it had been a relief to find out that Leo wasn’t working for Fabian or any of his rivals, but Nick wasn’t sure if the current situation was any better. If anyone found out, he was going to be labelled as a snitch. Maybe Alyssa and Everett would be brought under suspicion as well.

There had to be a way to turn all this to his own advantage. Nick knew that was one of his strengths. If he didn’t have the upper hand, he’d make sure to create an opportunity for himself where he would be certain to gain it. That was how he had survived so far, and it was how he planned to survive in the future as well.

And yet, there had been that look on Leo’s face, like he’d been taking for granted that Nick would cave and do the Right Thing. Nick didn’t want that kind of responsibility. No matter how satisfying it would be to take a dig at Fabian, this was not a game. If Nick agreed to help and Leo screwed up, people would get hurt, people Nick cared about.

But if Fabian got his way, people would certainly be hurt as well. 

And why was he beginning to care about that _now_ , when he’d managed to turn a blind eye for years? Not only had he turned a blind eye, he had deliberately swept all Fabian’s dirt under the carpet, covered it up to make sure it would never see the light of day. Deep down, he was just as much of a bastard as Fabian. Maybe even worse, because he had _known_ it had been wrong and he’d done it anyway. 

Leo clearly wasn’t as good a judge of character as he thought he was. 

Nick got on the train and spent the ride home trying very hard not to think about any of the things Leo had told him, but for some reason, his mind refused to let go of one insidiously happy little fact. _Sister and niece. No wife._ Nick couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so glad to be wrong about something, and against his will, he was curious to find out more.

He took out the card, looked at Leo’s name printed in neat black letters, the CPD logo, the phone number underneath. No. He was not going to call. He’d just taken the card in the unlikely event that he would be forced to contact Leo. The only way he was going to call that number was if there was no other choice. End of story.

The headache Nick had carried around all morning was still throbbing a steady beat behind his eyes. He should go home, try to eat something, take an aspirin or two, and go back to bed. The stress and the sleepless nights were beginning to add up. If he went on like this for much longer, he’d be down for the count before he knew it, confined to bed with one of the head-splitting migraine attacks that had plagued him since he got the implant. 

He’d just stepped off the train when his phone rang in his pocket. It was Everett’s number. Nick picked up the call and fished the phone out, holding it up to his ear. 

“Ev,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“Cash register broke,” Everett said. “Can’t get a repairman out until after the weekend. Would you mind taking a look?”

For his inner eye, Nick saw his planned nap grow wings and fly away, waving tauntingly at him as it disappeared. His headache wasn’t letting up. But it wasn’t like he could turn Ev down. 

“Sure,” he said, holding back a sigh. “I’ll be right over.” 

The bar wasn’t open yet, but Nick knocked on the kitchen entrance and Darla let him in. She provided him with a cup of coffee and a sandwich, which he ate, surprised to find that he was actually hungry for once. It even seemed to help a little with the headache. 

Everett was standing at the bar counter, resignedly pushing random buttons on the offending register. The thing remained dead and nothing happened. When Nick walked in, Ev gave him a grateful look, motioning to the register with frustration. 

“Damn thing locked up on me,” he said. “It’s been like this all morning.”

“It’s just feeling neglected,” Nick said, gently pushing him aside. “You should try talking nicely to it once in a while. Tell it you appreciate it, little things like that.”

Ev raised a doubtful eyebrow. “Really?” he asked, giving the cash register a suspicious glance.

“Of course not, it’s a _machine_.” Nick pushed another button and got the same result. “You got a toolbox around here somewhere? I haven’t been home yet, so I didn’t bring my stuff.”

A little later, Nick was in the process of taking the register apart in little pieces. The problem was purely mechanical, nothing he could fix directly. It didn’t bother him; it was nice to do a little work with his hands for once, take his mind off everything else. Ev was going through credit card receipts on the other end of the counter, a pair of reading glasses resting on the tip of his nose.

“Did you know Leo Harding was a cop?” Nick asked, trying his best to sound preoccupied.

Ev looked up on him over the rims of his glasses. “Can’t say I did.”

“But you’re not surprised to hear it either.” Nick rooted around in a cupboard until he found a discarded jar lid where he put the loose screws so he wouldn’t have to chase them all over the counter.

Everett shrugged. “I was pretty sure the man was mixed up in _something_. This sure beats the alternative. He tell you what he’s after?”

“Fabian. Who else?” 

“Thought they would’ve given up on that by now.”

“Yeah, well. That doesn’t seem to be the case.” The register was heavy and Nick needed to get to the underside. He tried lifting it, but he could barely manage to move the cumbersome thing. “Could you give me a hand here?” he asked Ev. “I think the cash drawer’s stuck but I can’t get at it from here.”

Ev pushed the receipts away and raised his hand, slowly turning it over in the air. As if on cue, the cash register slowly lifted from the counter and turned in the air, presenting the bottom side. Nick picked up the screwdriver again and went back to work. “You ever think about doing something about him?” he asked. 

Everett was holding the heavy machine suspended in the air with seemingly no effort at all. “Don’t see why I should,” he said. 

Nick removed the bottom plate and started in on the mechanism that controlled the cash drawer. “There are three people in this city that would have a chance of bringing Fabian down,” he said, trying to make his voice light. “Gina Blackburn works for him, The Librarian makes a point of being neutral, and then there’s you.”

“Maybe so. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.” 

“I’ve been hearing people tell me differently.”

Nick managed to clear the jam and the cash drawer shot out with a merry little ding. He pushed it in and out a few times to make sure it slid easily, and then started to screw the register back together. Once the bottom plate was back on, Everett let it down onto the counter again.

“Well,” Ev said. He took his glasses off, polished them with the edge of his shirt, and put them in his breast pocket. “Maybe you’re right, maybe I could take the bastard down. God knows he deserves it. But say I manage to do that, what happens next? Someone else would try to grab the opportunity to take up where he left off, and I’d have to stop them as well, and then I’d have to stop the one after that. Give it a couple of years, and _I’d_ have to become the new Fabian Frost, just to prevent someone else from stepping in.” Everett spread his hands. “I just run a bar. Being a crime lord wouldn’t suit me.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell Harding.” Nick had the register put back together. He plugged the cord in and tried to turn it on, and found that it was working again. “There, that should do it.” 

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Ev leaned against the counter, arms behind him for support. “You don’t think he can do something? The man has a badge. That changes things.”

Nick snorted. “He’s a white knight. I’m sure he wants to help, but he has no idea how things work down here.”

“Sounds like he could use some assistance.”

The silence fell between them. Nick looked away. The headache that had died down earlier returned, sending a sharp spike of pain into his temple. He held back a wince and raised a hand to his face, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“That’s what you think I should do then?” Nick said finally. He hadn’t meant to come here for advice, but it seemed like his subconscious knew something he didn’t. And Ev could be trusted. He was the one who had helped Nick get back on his feet after he’d left Fabian.

Ev shook his head, serious now. “ _I_ can’t tell you what to do. All I’m saying is, you’re in a pretty unique position.”

“That’s just why I don’t want to get involved.” 

But if he kept out of it and people got hurt because of it? Would he be able to live with that knowledge? Nick knew he had no chance of taking on Fabian Frost on his own, but together with Leo, with the backing of the Chicago Police Department? Was is even possible? 

He’d had no reason to think about things like this before, when he and Fabian had stayed on their respective sides of the sandbox. Now, Nick _knew_ something was going on. Whatever it was, it was probably going to affect him and the neighborhood. He had the perfect opportunity to find out what Fabian was up to. If he could pass on some information to Leo on the side, well, that might not hurt his continued existence.

Nick’s life was getting far too complicated. Part of him wished he’d never met Leo. He’d never had this kind of problems before. Maybe he should just do what he’d thought about all along, turn tail and run. 

The front entrance to the Showroom opened and Alyssa came in, shrugging out of her jacket and shaking it vigorously. “It’s snowing again!” she reported, and then seemed to notice Nick’s presence. “Oh, hey. I took care of that thing for you with the Librarian.”

“Thanks.” Nick shut down his whirling thoughts and tried to lock them away. “What did she say?”

“She wasn’t happy, I can tell you that much.”

“When is she ever?” 

Alyssa tucked the jacket under her arm and walked into the kitchen. When she came back out ten minutes later, she was dressed for work in a black t-shirt with the Showroom logo, and a black apron around her waist. “What did you find out about Captain America?” she asked, sitting down on a stool in front of Nick. “Was the address real?”

Nick looked down, biting his lip. “It was real,” he said quietly.

“And? Does he eat small children for breakfast or what?”

“Not exactly.” Nick drew a deep breath and started telling her about his morning. It was easier than expected, and he found to his surprise that the thought of Leo’s kitchen filled him with a strange kind of longing, like it was something he’d been missing all his life. It was probably just a touch of jealousy, he told himself. There had been no fruit bowls or happy family pictures around in his childhood home. 

He told Alyssa about Leo’s request for assistance and his terms but kept his mouth shut about his doubts and the inconvenient attack of conscience for now.

“Is he even allowed to do that?” Alyssa asked when he was done. “Isn’t it entrapment or whatever? He’s practically blackmailing you, you know.”

“I don’t think he’ll actually _do_ anything if I refuse,” Nick said. He leaned forward over the bar and rested his pounding head on his arms. “I didn’t get that feeling from him. I’m pretty sure he just expects me to do it out of the goodness of my heart.”

“And emotional blackmail isn’t blackmail?” Alyssa frowned and toyed with the band on her apron. “Look, I know you’ve got some sort of crush on this guy, and I don’t blame you, the man is _fine_. But you’ve got to think this through before you make a decision. Don’t walk into something you can’t get out of again. Please?”

Nick looked up at her. “I _am_ thinking, that’s the problem. The more I’m thinking about it, the more does it look like I don’t really have a choice. I need to find out about Fabians plans regardless. If my insurance is worthless, I’ll be in more trouble than if I don’t do anything at all.”

Alyssa nodded slowly. “I don’t like it,” she said, disapproval clear in every syllable. “Nothing’s that easy with Frost. He knows you too well.”

“I know him pretty well too,” Nick argued. “This time, I know what I’m doing. And if something goes wrong, I’ll probably have backup.”

She reached out to take hold of his hand. “You already _have_ backup.”

When he was out on the street again, Nick stood there for a moment, watching the snow fall. It wasn’t that long until Christmas. He wondered where he’d be at that time. Not that it would do him any good to dwell on it right now. There were more pressing issues in the present.

He took the little white card out of his pocket and dialled the number, held the phone up and listened to the signals go through. It took a while, but eventually, the call was picked up, and a familiar voice answered, “Chicago Police Department, Officer Harding speaking.”

“I’ll go to the meeting,” Nick said into the phone. “I’m not wearing a wire, Fabian will know. If I find out something useful, I’ll get in touch.”

He didn’t take the time to wait for Leo’s answer before he ended the call.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Leo called back three times in the next fifteen minutes. Nick didn’t pick up. He called Fabian’s office instead, reached his secretary, and asked her to pass on that he wanted to accept Mr Frost’s dinner invitation. She did not sound surprised at all when she informed him that there was a table booked for eight o’clock at the Everest, and told him that Mr Frost was looking forward to his company.

Damn Fabian, always so arrogant. It was just like him to pretend he’d known Nick would cave and agree to join him for dinner all along. 

It was almost two o’clock in the afternoon, more than enough time to grab a little sleep and get ready for the evening. Nick’s phone dinged and he checked the incoming text message. Predictably, it was from Leo, the two words, _Call me!!!!_ , followed by multiple exclamation marks.

Nick ignored the message. He didn’t feel like talking to Leo right now. It would feel too much like defeat. As long as he could at least tell himself that he was doing all this for his own sake, the imaginary leash around his neck didn’t feel quite so heavy. Dominic Vargas, police informant. How about that?

He got home, swallowed some Ibuprofen, and sat down on the couch with his laptop, waiting for it to kick in. He had a bit of research he wanted to do in preparation for the evening and he was still too wound up to try to go to sleep. 

Unavoidably, he got stuck going through old birth records, trying to tie up loose ends, and before he knew it, his eyelids were getting heavier. He carefully set the computer aside so it wouldn’t fall to the floor and stretched out on the couch, reaching for the old afghan he kept draped over the armrest. 

His dreams were wispy and vague, featuring closed rooms with no way out, cages, huge empty freezers with padlocks around the edges. Fabian was present through it all, a looming, watching figure who held a fist full of taut strings, playing them like a virtuoso.

The furious knocking on the door woke him. Nick got up, somewhat groggily, and staggered out into the hall. He was still exhausted and the headache hadn’t lessened, rather the opposite. The cell phone screamed at him; several missed calls and a number of texts, all from Leo.

Of course, Leo was the one standing outside. Nick stared at the image on the security camera for a few moments, taking in the slightly blurry figure. Leo was dressed in jeans and a hoodie under a worn denim jacket, and he had a baseball cap pulled down over his face. Nick watched him raise his hand and pound on the door again, and then turn around to pace back and forth in the hallway. If he kept it up, he was going to draw a lot of attention. 

Nick opened the door. “What?”

Leo whipped his head around, looking like he was ready to hit something else than the door. As soon as he caught sight of Nick though, his look softened. “Wow. You look like crap.”

“And you look like a fashion model hiding from the paparazzi, what’s your point?”

All right. It was possible he needed a lot more sleep to be coherent. 

“Why aren’t you answering your phone, you asshole? I thought something had happened.”

“Aw, were you worried? That’s adorable.” Nick stepped aside. “Come inside before the whole building knows you’re here.”

Leo pushed his way through the door, brushing past Nick. It made him stumble a little and Leo quickly reached out a hand to steady him. “Okay?” he asked. 

Nick pulled free from the touch and gathered all his remaining wits. “I’m fine,” he said. “About to go throw myself into the gaping maws of the monster, but other than that, everything’s peachy.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.” Leo slid the cap off. It left his hair in an endearing mess. “It’s not that I’m not grateful for the help, believe me, I am. But are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

Nick drifted back into the front room. Leo followed, trailing at his heels like a guard dog. While his back was turned, Nick blinked his eyes repeatedly, trying to get them to clear and focus. He checked the time and found that he still had some time before he had to get ready and leave. 

“It’s not my first time dealing with Fabian,” he said, sinking down onto the couch again. An image from the night before flashed before his inner eye, himself and Leo sitting in the exact same spot, kissing. He shook his head, trying to clear it from the remaining cobwebs of sleep. “I’ll go there, listen to what he has to say. After that...” he spread his hands and shrugged one shoulder. “We’ll have to see what happens.”

“I’d feel better if you had someone with you. Are you sure about the wire?”

Nick nodded. “Fabian’s not stupid. He’ll check me over.”

“I can put somebody in the restaurant.”

“Gina Blackburn is a mindreader. I know how to keep her out of my head, but if you send someone in there who doesn’t know at least basic psychic protection, they’ll blow my cover.”

Leo grabbed the chair that stood against a wall and sat down, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “So teach me.”

Nick couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He still felt a little groggy and hoped it wasn’t showing too much. “It takes longer than a couple of hours. Besides, the place we’re meeting, you’d stand out like a sore thumb. I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t like it.” Leo looked grumpy, but at least half-way accepting now. “What if something happens.”

“Then it happens.” Nick smothered a yawn. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get what you need one way or another. You might even get another commendation out of it.”

Leo’s head shot up. “You checked up on me?”

“Of course. Impressive career for someone so young. One thing makes me a little curious though.” Nick leaned over and picked the laptop up off the floor, firing it up. “There’s no record of a Leo Harding anywhere before 1991. Assuming the age on your driver’s licence is correct, you must’ve been what, nine? Why is that?”

There was a wary expression on Leo’s face, but then his shoulders slumped a little bit. “Because technically, Leo Harding didn’t exist until then.”

“Care to tell me why?”

“Not really.” Leo looked away, and then drew a deep breath. “But there’s nothing to stop you from finding out anyway so you might as well get the story from me.” He leaned forward again, cracking his fingers as if he was preparing himself for an unpleasant task. “Back in the seventies, the military worked had a project, a human augmentation thing. The goal was to find a way to get soldiers who were stronger, more durable, who healed faster, stuff like that.”

“The Zarathustra project.” Nick nodded. “Yes, I’m familiar with it.”

Leo looked up, surprise written all over his face. “You are? It’s classified seven ways till Sunday.”

“It was supposed to be but someone leaked a report.” Nick grinned. “All it takes is one guy, you know. It’s pretty well known in transhumanist circles. A friend of mine at MIT got hold of it and let me read it. Fascinating stuff really, and way ahead of its time. But I thought the project was a failure?”

“It was.” Leo stood up and began to pace again. He seemed to find it difficult to sit still when he was upset. “Out of twenty test subjects, nine died before the first trial was over. Only two showed any results at all and the long term effects weren’t... favorable.”

“I remember.” There had been a big discussion about the ethical implications of the trial, people who argued that all scientific progress demanded sacrifice and that the project should have been allowed to continue, and those who thought that it wasn’t advisable to play God. “Where do you come in?”

Leo had reached the window and stayed there, looking out over the street with his hands clasped behind his back. “My father, my biological father, was one of the two,” he said. “It changed him. I don’t remember it myself, I was only a baby at the time. Linda, my sister, was older.” He sighed. “She says he used to be a good father. A kind man. Then, about eight years after the project ended, he started to turn into a completely different person. He got violent, irrational. The army doctors said that the experiment had altered his brain chemistry somehow.”

“All right, _that_ I didn’t know.” Nick waved at him to continue. “What happened?”

“The doctors thought they would be able to fix him, but Mom was scared. She got to bear the brunt of it, protecting Linda and me. One day, she put the two of us in the car and left. Drove until she was sure no one would recognize us and started a new life. Couple of years later, we discovered that whatever it was they did to my father... it had passed on to me.”

“I bet she didn’t want the army to know about that.”

Leo laughed bitterly. “You could say that. I was five years old, she didn’t want me to be turned into a lab rat. So she taught me how to hide my abilities and we did our best to live a normal life. Some time later, she met a new man, Tom Harding. They got married, he adopted Linda and me. End of story.”

Nick nodded slowly, and then came to think of something. “What about your sister? Does she have the same abilities?”

“No.” Leo shook his head. “Linda’s normal. Her daughter isn’t.” He rolled his shoulders, as if trying to ease the tension out of them. “Maggie’s father, Linda’s husband, was a marine. He didn’t know about our family history. Greg was killed overseas two years ago and Maggie’s ability showed up around the same time. That’s when I moved up here to stay with them, try to help out.”

“Be the man of the family?”

“God, no!” Leo winced. “Linda would kill you if she heard you talking like that. No, it’s mostly for Maggie’s sake. When I grew up... there was no one around who knew what it was like, having these powers.” He flexed his arm a little bit in demonstration. “Mom was terrified what happened to my father was going to happen to me too, that I’d end up going crazy. She never even wanted to talk about it, just pretended it wasn’t there. I just want Maggie to have someone who understands.”

“How did you decide to become a cop?”

Leo shrugged. “I wanted to find a way to help, I guess. I think it runs in the family.” He smiled fondly. “Maggie wants to be a firefighter when she grows up.” 

The look on his face when he was talking about his niece made something clench a little bit in Nick’s stomach. It was so very clear how much Leo loved the girl. 

Something occurred to him. “You’re out now, aren’t you? What happens if the military finds out about you and Maggie?”

Leo waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, they know. They don’t care much, really. I had a chat with an overbearingly polite Lieutenant colonel about the same time as I graduated from the Police Academy. You know,” he continued. “It was different back then. People with abilities were still rare. There’s been a surge in the past ten or fifteen years. If they wanted super soldiers, they could just go down to the Showroom and start recruiting. I can think of a few military applications for Alyssa’s ability for example. Yours too, come to think of it.”

“I’m very well aware of that.” Nick rubbed his temple, trying to ignore the chafing feeling of the implant that had taken hold and refused to go away. He checked the time and came to the conclusion that he had to get ready if he wanted to get to the restaurant in time and not look like death warmed over. 

He stumbled a bit when he got out of the couch, and Leo reached for him again in an attempt to provide some support. Nick shrugged the hand off and regained his balance, but the concerned look on Leo’s face didn’t go away. 

“Seriously, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’ve got a headache, that’s all.”

Leo didn’t look convinced. “Are you going to be able to...”

Nick held out a hand, effectively silencing him. “I’m _fine_. I get them all the time, nothing to worry about. I need to get ready, you can show yourself out.” 

He made his way to the bathroom without looking back, suddenly feeling a bit overwhelmed by the concern. Leo was just making sure he would be able to do his job, that was all. It didn’t have anything to do with _him_. Nick locked the bathroom door behind him and sat down on the toilet seat, resting his head in his hands. Great. He couldn’t afford to be off balance when he went to meet with Fabian. Why did Leo have to show up like this and kick his legs out from under him?

With a deep breath, Nick got up and climbed into the shower. He carefully avoided looking in the mirror, a little afraid of the sight that would meet him there.

The hot water helped loosen up the stiff muscles in his shoulders and neck and he stayed under the spray for a long time, leaning his aching head against the wall. He needed to find his composure again. If he was going to deal with Fabian, he needed to be all there, not this scattered, confused mess.

But Nick couldn’t deny that he’d enjoyed the conversation with Leo, getting to know more about him. The story had provided him with some answers, given him at least a little bit of insight to the enigma that the man presented. And he’d come here because he’d been worried...

Nick shut the water off and climbed out of the shower, grabbing a towel. Now, he dared a look in the mirror and found that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There were dark circles under his eyes, but they weren’t too noticeable. A heavy five-o-clock shadow had grown in and he debated shaving, but then remembered that Fabian had always liked him smooth and decided to keep the scruff just for the hell of it. He screwed the cap off the bottle of Ibuprofen he kept in the bathroom cabinet and swallowed some more, hoping to keep the worst of the headache at bay.

Then he realised that, in his rush to escape Leo’s concern, he had forgotten to bring any clothes with him into the bathroom. Hoping that Leo had followed his request that he leave, Nick wrapped a towel around his waist, cracked the bathroom door open, and peered out.

No such luck. Leo was still sitting in the front room. When he heard the door open, he looked up. His eyes made a quick sweep of Nick’s naked chest before they returned to his face. Nick fought the urge to duck back into the bathroom and hide, but didn’t want to look like a body-shy teenager. 

“You’re still here,” he stated, walking to the closet in the hall to try to decide on a shirt. He felt Leo’s gaze follow him, heavy on his exposed skin.

“I thought we should decide on some kind of back-up plan, just in case something goes wrong.” Leo stood up, scratching the back of his neck. He almost looked a little uncomfortable, and Nick had to duck his head to hide his smile. “Is there any way you’ll be able to contact me if you end up in trouble? I still don’t like the thought of you going in there all alone.”

Nick found a dress shirt and got it down from the hanger and then went on to pick a suit, one of the ones he’d bought for himself. He’d made a point of getting rid of all the clothes Fabian had picked out for him. “I’ll figure something out when I get there,” he said.

He decided on the charcoal pinstripes that would go well with the pale lilac shirt. A dark purple tie completed the ensemble. Nick walked out of the closet, the clothes folded over one arm. “You do realize that if something does go wrong, you probably won’t be able to do anything about it, right?” he said on his way into the bedroom.

“That’s just what I don’t like!” Leo shouted after him. 

Nick got dressed and checked his reflection in the full length mirror on the inside of his bedroom door. It had been a while since he’d had an opportunity to dress up and it felt good, like slipping back into a familiar old skin. If only the occasion had been a little less distasteful. 

“You look good,” Leo said as he came out of the bedroom again, an appreciative look roaming over Nick’s body. “Can’t say I would’ve picked that color, but it suits you.”

Nick studied him with narrowed eyes, trying to figure out if there was a hidden meaning underneath the words, but Leo’s face held that open, honest look that belied no subterfuge. He’d probably meant it as a genuine compliment, and Nick had no idea what to do with that.

He’d asked Leo if he really was into men. That certainly seemed to be the case.

Nick straightened his collar and picked some imaginary lint off his shoulder. He ran a little gel through his hair, slicking it back, out of his eyes. Nick, the friendly neighborhood repairman was gone. This was Dominic Vargas, career criminal. He wondered how well he’d be able to play the role after all these months trying to get rid of every trace of it.

While he fixed his hair, he activated his cell phone and sent Leo a quick text. “That’s Alyssa’s number,” he said, when Leo’s cell dinged as the message arrived. “If everything goes sideways, she’ll know what to do.”

Leo checked the display on his phone with a faint frown. “How long reach does this mindreader have?” he asked, looking up. “I wouldn’t have to be in the room.”

Nick sighed. “Look, if it’s that important, I’ll do my best to try to get you a line in, but you _cannot be there_ , do you understand? I’m going to need to concentrate and you’ll be a distraction, okay?”

“Okay.” Leo nodded reluctantly. “How are you going to get there?”

“I’ll take a cab. And no, you can’t come with me in the car. If you must, you can stay here and wait, but stay away from the Everest. Don’t send anyone else in there that I don’t know about. It doesn’t matter if Gina can’t pick it up from me; if she senses a cop in the restaurant, she’ll suspect that I have something to do with it.”

“All right, I’ve got it.”

“I’m not kidding here. This could be my life on the line.”

“I’ve _got_ it.” Leo raised his voice a little in frustration. It was plain how much he disliked the idea of sitting on his hands and letting Nick run the show. “Just be careful, okay?”

Nick couldn’t resist winking at him. “Always am.”

He grabbed his coat and left Leo in the apartment to run down to the street and hail a cab. The familiar feeling that heralded the beginning of an adrenaline rush was tingling through his body. God, he’d missed this. The thrill, the risk, the challenge of taking someone on and seeing who came out on top. He had to force his mind to a halt and tamp down on the anticipation, reminding himself what an extremely dangerous situation he was about to walk into. He couldn’t afford to get careless around Fabian, and he couldn’t afford trying to be clever. Go in, get the information, get out clean, that was it. Nothing else.

It took him about five minutes to find a taxi and then he poured himself into the backseat, giving the driver the address to the restaurant. He leaned back into the seat and watched the city go by outside the window, wishing there was a way to know what he was setting himself up for.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Everett was located at the 40:th floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange. Nick had to stop before entering the dining room, composing himself and trying to slow down his heart rate. He searched out a quiet corner, closed his eyes, and imagined a transparent bubble around his head, shielding his thoughts and emotions. He kept concentrating on the bubble until he was sure it was safely in place, and then checked his clothes and his hair, making certain he looked at good as he possibly could. Nick had always found the idea of trying to ‘win’ a break-up stupid, but he still wanted to prove to Fabian that he was doing well for himself.

It was a Friday night and the dining room was full. Nick stopped just inside the dining room doors, drinking in the atmosphere. You could almost smell the money in here, could see it in the designer clothes of the guests and the exclusive furniture of the room, the pieces of art tastefully displayed in the locale.

Nick was led to a table that was somewhat more secluded than the others. Fabian and Gina had already arrived and were sitting there in deep conversation with a thin unassuming man Nick had never met before. As he neared the table, Gina looked up at him through her eyelashes and smiled. He could feel her probing around the outside of his mind and made sure to strengthen the bubble.

Fabian stood up to greet him, elegant as always. He wore a tailored dove grey suit and an ascot tie in ice blue and silver around his neck. There were a few new lines around his eyes, but his hair was the same silky grey it had been thirteen months ago, and when he reached out to shake Nick’s hand, his hand was still too cold and the handshake just a little too firm for comfort.

“So glad you could make it, Nicky,” he said, flashing a Cheshire cat smile. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. 

Nick couldn’t get away from the handshake too fast, but he forced himself to hold it, meet Fabian’s steely eyes, and return the smile. “My pleasure,” he lied smoothly, making sure Fabian could spot how untrue the statement was.

Lonnie Leblanc and Frank Shane were sitting at the next table over, doing their best not to look like bodyguards, and failing horribly.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Fabian said, waving Lonnie over. “One can’t be too careful these days, don’t you agree?” This time there was a sharp edge to his smile.

“That’s what I hear.” Nick held his hands out to the sides and allowed Lonnie to pat him down. “Hi Lonnie,” he said. “Beat up any little kids lately?”

Lonnie looked up at him. If looks could kill, Nick would have been a small spot of soot on the floor. It was a good thing Fabian had Lonnie well trained. He wasn’t going to start any fights in here. Nick wasn’t doing anything to endear himself to Lonnie though, but it wasn’t like he cared much about that.

Once Fabian was confident that Nick had come unarmed and without any electronic listening devices, he pulled out the free chair and invited Nick to sit down. Fabian’s hand brushed against his arm as he did so, and Nick had to keep from shivering with some kind of strange anticipation. Even after all this time, Fabian could still affect him. He’d have to be very careful tonight.

Nick nodded at Gina over the table. She was dressed in a chartreuse silk dress embroidered with gold, and had her dark hair gathered in a complicated knot in the nape of her neck. Every woman in the room was sending her jealous glances, which she completely ignored.

“Changed your mind after all, love?” she asked, one eyebrow delicately raised. 

Fabian held up a hand before Nick had time to come up with a cutting reply. “Now, now, let’s just all enjoy ourselves here. We’re very happy to have Nicky back with us where he belongs, aren’t we?”

“But of course.” Gina stretched lazily in her seat. Nick couldn’t help but wonder if the two of them were sleeping together these days. It wouldn’t surprise him.

Nick turned his attention to the fourth person at the table, the reedy little man. His hair was going thin on top and he seemed to be doing his best to cover it up. He was dressed in a grey inexpensive suit and a pair of round rimless glasses were perched on the bridge of his nose. “I don’t believe we’ve met?”

“Oh, where are my manners?” Fabian chuckled with false joviality, motioning at the man. “Nicky, meet Dr Elroy Mathers, a new friend of ours. Dr Mathers, this is Mr Dominic Vargas, whose work I believe you are already familiar with.”

A tingling little bell of dreadful suspicion was set off in the back of Nick’s mind. He reached out over the table to shake Dr Mathers’ hand. It was like touching a piece of dusty old parchment and Nick almost feared that a finger would break off in his hand. The doctor did not smile and when the handshake was over, he reached into his pocket for wet wipe which he used to thoroughly clean his hands. Then he took a small ziplock bag from his other pocket and deposited the used wipe into it.

“No offense meant, Mr Vargas,” he said. His voice was as thin and dry as the man himself. “You can’t be too careful about hygiene in my line of work.”

“Of course, I understand.” Nick searched frantically in his memories for any reference to the good doctor. He was sure he’d heard the name before. Then he remembered. “You would be the Dr Mathers who did some ground winning work in nanotechnology back in the early nineties? I seem to recall your name coming up a lot in the coursework back when I went to school.”

“Yes, I am him.” Dr Mathers said. “Your work built on mine, I believe. Very impressive theories. Intrinsically flawed of course, but still interesting. It was a shame your research was not allowed to take its natural progress.”

Nick felt at once vividly aware of the implant in his head. Mathers was studying him like he was an interesting piece of technology, nothing more, and it was extremely unsettling. Nick suddenly felt like wiping his hands as well. 

“I think the coma thing might have had something to do with that,” he said, forcing some levity into his voice. 

Mathers didn’t answer, just gave him a long, appraising look that chased a new set of shivers down Nick’s spine.

Fabian ordered food and wine for all four of them, still with that annoying need to control everything and everyone around him. Towards the end, it had made Nick grab every chance he got to visit a restaurant on his own, just so he could order something he had picked himself. Gina attempted to make small talk with Dr Mathers, but didn’t seem to have much more success than Nick had. There was something disturbing about the little man that even surpassed Gina Blackburn’s own inherent creepiness and that wasn’t an easy feat to pull off.

Meanwhile, Nick studied Fabian over the table, doing his best to figure out what the man was thinking. He could tell that Fabian was watching him in return, a sly, calculating look on his face. This was just like it had been back in the bad old days, attempting to stay a step ahead of Fabian and always falling short of the mark. 

“You look tired, Nicky,” Fabian said eventually, a falsely sweet tone in his voice. “Are you getting enough sleep?” 

“I sleep just fine,” Nick lied. Fabian was familiar with his insomnia. What was he trying to play at, bringing it up? Maybe it was an attempt to appear friendly. Or else, it was just Fabian’s way of reminding Nick just how well he knew him.

Fabian glanced back at Lonnie, who was watching the table with the hungry eyes of a guard dog. “I hear you’ve met someone new,” he said. “I hope you’re taking appropriate measures. We both know how... vulnerable... you can be when it comes to matters of the heart.”

Nick narrowed his eyes. What did Fabian mean by that exactly? He was getting a bad feeling. This was probably the point where he ought to try to make good on his word to get Leo a way to listen in on the conversation.

Fabian had let him keep his cell phone. If by design or if he’d just overlooked it, Nick didn’t know, but it gave him an advantage. Now, he sent it a little nudge with his mind, brought up Leo’s number in the contact list, and dialled. Once Leo picked up, Nick put it on speaker and left it that way in his pocket, hoping Leo would understand what he was doing and not make some kind of noise that would give Nick away.

“It’s nice of you to worry, Fabian,” he said, loud enough the he was sure Leo would hear him. “But there’s no need for it really. I think I’ve learned my lesson.”

The smug, knowing smile on Fabian’s face made Nick feel a little sick. He couldn’t believe that there had been a time in his life when he’d thought he’d been in love with this man. Thinking back, he knew it had all been horribly one-sided. Fabian wasn’t capable of things like love. He got off on power and control, things Nick had been more than willing to give him in bed and provide him with outside it. If there had ever been another human being who was important to Fabian Frost, Nick wasn’t aware of them.

Their food arrived and Fabian bid them all to eat, presiding over the table like a benevolent patriarch. He’d ordered the roasted Maine lobster for Nick and it was just as good as he remembered it, even if he couldn’t quite enjoy the food with Fabian watching his every move. The view of Chicago from above would probably have been spectacular any other night, but tonight, the city was wrapped in a cloudy grey fog and the brilliant lights of the city below were blurry. Dr Mathers refused wine and only picked at his food and Gina wouldn’t stop glancing at Nick with annoyed air about her. He knew she was trying to pick away at his psychic defenses and made sure to keep the image of his bubble firm around his thoughts. Whatever it was she was after, she wasn’t going to get it from him.

They made small talk through the beginning of the meal. Nick ate as much as he could manage, and only sipped his wine, hoping to keep his headache manageable. He couldn’t quite figure out Dr Mathers. The man was very quiet and barely said anything at all, unless the topic strayed towards science. There was something about him that niggled at Nick’s attention, something he was sure he was supposed to know, but without a computer readily available, he couldn’t find out what. He’d have to check up on the man later, unless Leo was already doing that.

“Very well,” Fabian said after all innocent topics of conversation had apparently been exhausted. “Let’s discuss business.” He turned to Nick, putting his fingertips together in a calculating gesture. “I’m very glad to have you back, pet. There’s something I need that you’re in a rather unique position to provide.”

Nick pushed his half-finished meal away, suddenly not hungry anymore. “I’m sure you could find plenty of people with my talents,” he said. “Honestly, any halfway decent hacker can do what I do. I just have a more efficient way of doing it.”

“Oh, I’m not interested in your skills when it comes to cleaning up messes.” Fabian leaned forward over the table, putting his hand on Nick’s forearm. Nick had to fight the urge to lean into the touch and silently cursed his own deeply ingrained responsiveness. This was exactly why he shouldn’t have come here. 

“We’re way beyond that now.” Fabian reached up and tapped his finger against Nick’s temple. “No, what I want is in here.”

Nick met Fabian’s look and swallowed. He was pretty sure everyone could see that he was shaken, but there was no way he could hold it back. “And here I thought you only wanted me for my body,” he tried to joke. It fell flat to the floor.

“I understand you are familiar with transhumanist theory, Mr Vargas?” asked Mathers. His voice was very low.

Nick nodded. While he’d conducted his research on the neural interface, it had been unavoidable not to come into contact with those thoughts. “I am. I also know that all that is years into the future. This...” he pointed to his own skull and met Fabian’s steady gaze, “This was an accident, and you know that as well as I do.”

“It is not as far into the future as you might believe.” Mathers took a sip from his water glass and smacked his paper dry lips. “Evolution is taking giant leaps forward as we speak. The number of superpowered individuals is increasing more and more for every day.”

“What’s in my head has nothing to do with evolution,” Nick protested. “Yes, it’s a pretty advanced piece of technology, but it’s not supposed to be there, and it isn’t possible to replicate the procedure. The risk is just too high.” He turned to Fabian. “Why would you want to do that anyway? You already have an ability.”

“So I do.” Fabian leaned back in his seat, interlocking his fingers in front of him. “And such a very useful one too.” The temperature in the room seemed to decrease by several degrees. The woman at the next table, who was wearing a short sleeved dress, started to shiver violently. “However, we are still in a minority. Do you know how many people with superpowers there are in the United States today?”

“I think it was something like 0,4 percent at the last count,” Nick countered, wondering where this was going. “Of course, that only includes the ones who are out, so say maybe one percent all in all.”

“Counting even the tiny insignificant powers, that’s over 300.000 people,” Gina chimed in.

“And yet!” Fabian spread his arms. “There are laws regulating the use of abilities. We have to apply for _licenses_.” He spat out the word. “We should be ruling this country, and here we are, playing second fiddle to the big grey mass who only control us by means of majority.”

Nick was beginning to get a terrible feeling about all this. “So? As the doctor said, the number is increasing more and more for every day. Give it another twenty or thirty years and there’ll be a lot more of us.”

“That is the very delicate problem we are facing.” Dr Mathers carefully wiped his mouth with the linen napkin. “Evolution, Mr Vargas, is not moving fast enough. It’s time for mankind to take responsibility for our own development. You are here to help us with that.”

Instinct screamed at Nick to stand up and walk out of the dining room, turn around and never come within ten miles distance of this little man again. The phone was burning a hole in his pocket and Nick could imagine Leo sitting on the other end of the line, holding onto every word that was said. If he left now, he’d have just enough information to know what a very serious problem they were facing, but not enough to be able to do anything about it.

Nick leaned forward, arranging his face into an expression of polite interest. “I must admit I’m a little confused,” he said. “Even if something like that was possible, if there was a way to ease out the kinks without risking anyone’s life in the process...” He smiled, shaking his head in disbelief. “I was part of a team of _six_. Last I heard, one of the original team members died, one was discredited as a scientist and a doctor and will never work again, one retired, and the rest have moved onto other projects.”

“But we have you,” Fabian interrupted, his eyes gleaming with possessiveness. “A clever man like you, Nicky, will surely be able to assist the good doctor in his work.”

Nick sat back and shook his head. “Do you even know what I _did_ on the project? I was a post grad student, okay? I helped program the thing. Basically, I was a code monkey. The big reason for why we decided to test the implant on me in the first place was because I was _expendable_. If something went wrong, there would be no trouble at all replacing me.”

It wasn’t the whole truth, but right now, Nick was desperate to downplay his own importance. If Fabian got the idea that Nick was necessary to his plans, there would be no way out. He’d be press-ganged into Fabian’s service again, whether he wanted to or not. 

“You are very modest, Mr Vargas.” There was a glint of something hard and hungry in Dr Mather’s eyes, the first sign of real emotion Nick had observed from him so far. “I am sure that a man with your level of intelligence will find a way to make himself useful.”

“There are always other resources available,” Fabian said. There was a knowing little smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “But I think you would prefer if we did not have to utilize them.” 

Nick wanted to reach out over the table and strangle him. Damn it. He’d been so sure that Fabian wouldn’t be interested in Chrissie. And now, Nick was in the exact position he’d hoped he wasn’t going to end up in. If he said yes, agreed to help, he’d never be able to forgive himself if something went wrong. If he said no, Fabian would go after his friends instead. 

“What are we talking about here, time-wise?” Nick asked. When he looked at Fabian, he noticed a blurry spot in the upper left side of his field of vision. He tried blinking it away, but it persisted. Damn it, not now. He swallowed against the sudden nausea that threatened to bubble up in his throat. “I can get access to the project notes easily enough, but it would probably take a couple of years at least to arrive at a viable prototype. Grant Harrison was the one who built the implant and he died of a heart attack three years ago. He used to be pretty good at documenting his work so if I had his notes, I should be able to duplicate it. When are you planning to set this whole thing in motion? And what do you want to use it for, exactly?”

He let the questions roll over his tongue at a frantic pace, desperate to find out as much as possible. He didn’t have to actually _do_ it, he told himself. He just had to get enough information out of Fabian to be able to stop him, and if he had to pretend to be going along with him to do that? Well, so be it.

Fabian leaned back, looking very pleased with himself. “I’m branching out,” he said. “I already own this city. I have decent footholds in Miami, Las Vegas and New York. I own politicians, I own businessmen, I own enough police officers that I have nothing to worry about from the law. Give me a little more time, and one day, I’ll own the President. But I need foot soldiers.”

“And you want to _create_ them?” Nick blurted out before he could stop himself. On the other side of the table, Gina sent him a sideways glance he couldn’t decipher. He tamped down on his feelings and smothered a cough. “All right. Why not just recruit people who already have abilities?”

Dr Mathers cleared his throat with an awkward little sound. “Because they already have them. There is nothing in it for them. But find people who want something badly enough, and they will gladly give you anything in return for their dreams coming true.”

“And you want enough of these people to build you a national organization?”

“Nicky, Nicky, Nicky.” Fabian smiled like a fox. “I want enough of them to build me an _army_.”

The blurry patch grew. Soon, pain would being to spike through his eye. Nick could feel his hand begin to tremble slightly and tried to mask it by gripping his wineglass. 

“When?” he asked. “A year? Two? When are you planning to start this?”

Fabian turned in his seat and looked toward Lonnie and Frank’s table. Frank Shane met Nick’s gaze and grinned, raised his head and snapped his fingers. Tiny little sparks flew. 

Shit. Frank had been born normal. He’d spent most of his adult life climbing the ranks in Fabian’s organization through a mix of vicious ruthlessness and generous backstabbing. He’d never been a fan of Nick either, not after Nick had turned up out of nowhere and caught Fabian’s attention. If Frank had acquired an ability, it was bad news for the people of Chicago. 

“We have already started,” Dr Mathers said quietly. “The first tests have been very successful.” 

A number of different scenarios started to flash through Nick’s mind, each and every one of them worse than the one that came before it. He wished he’d never come here, never found out about all this.

Gina had been silent through the entire conversation and Nick wondered what she was thinking. She’s always enjoyed being special. Did she support Fabian’s plan? On the other hand, Nick could easily see her coming up with schemes of world domination. 

“Okay,” he said finally. “I’ll see what I can do. But I’m going to need to know more. Can we meet later this week after I’ve had time to get hold of those notes?”

His head was really starting to pound now and he’d more or less lost the sight in his left eye. He had to get out of here soon, find a quiet place to lie down until he could think again. He furtively glanced at Fabian, trying to see if he’d noticed anything. Fabian knew about Nick’s migraines, had always seen them as a disappointing sign of weakness and liked to rub it in his face with fake concern.

“Of course.” Fabian stood up, signalling that the meeting was over. “Call my office and we’ll set something up. I’m looking forward to your company, pet.” His hand brushed over Nick’s arm and he tried not to react, to neither squirm away or lean into the touch. The old nickname was grating in his ears and brought to mind a time when it had been all too true. 

The company broke up and left the dining room. Dr Mathers moved slowly and carefully, taking great care not to touch anything in the restaurant when he left. He said his goodbyes and was the first to leave. 

Nick only wanted to get out of there as quickly as possibly. The light was stabbing in his eyes and every time a knife or fork grated against a plate in the room it was like a small explosion in his head. He asked a hostess to call him a taxi and refused Fabian’s offer to drop him off with the limo.

He was on his way to the elevator and had just reached for the active phone in the pocket of his suit jacket to see if Leo was still listening, when Gina caught up to him, took a gentle hold of his elbow, and steered him towards a secluded corner of the lobby. Fabian followed discretely. When Nick looked back over his shoulder, he could see Lonnie and Frank hanging around by the elevators, trying to look inconspicuous. 

Nick’s stomach went cold and his knees felt weak. He was certain that he’d been found out. Maybe Gina had found a way to beat the bubble. Maybe Fabian had kept better tabs on him than he’d thought. Either way, Leo was probably going to have to open another file in the Popsicle killer case tomorrow morning. 

“Dinner was great,” Nick said, turning to Fabian, trying not to let his voice display any fear. “Not to be ungrateful or anything, but I’d like to go home now. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

“Leo Harding,” Fabian said. His expression had lost every trace of friendliness. Now, his face was that of a deadly predator. 

Nick felt all the colour drain out of his face. “What about him?” he asked. 

“Maybe we should say _Officer_ Harding?” Gina said, her voice velvet smooth and amused. “You did know he was with the police, didn’t you? Otherwise, I’ll have to be very disappointed.” 

All right, now was the time for some extremely quick thinking. Nick could deny all knowledge of Leo, but if Fabian found out later that he’d been lying, there would be hell to pay. Or, he could go for a double play. It was risky, but the best option at the moment.

“Of course,” he said nonchalantly. “That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

He wondered what Leo was thinking if he was listening in to this, and hoped desperately that he’d understand what Nick was trying to do.

“He seems to have taken quite a liking to you, Nicky,” Fabian said, putting a hand on Nick’s shoulder and squeezing. “Do you want me to take care of it?”

There was a test here somewhere; Nick was sure of it. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he said lightly. “I think he’s got a crush. It could be useful to us. Didn’t you say you have control over a number of police officers? Why not him?”

“He does seem incorruptible,” Gina said, the corners of her mouth twisting in disgust. 

Nick shrugged. The entire left side of his head was pounding in time with his pulse and he felt more than a little wobbly on his feet. “He thinks I’m some broken little bird that he needs to save,” he said. It was just close enough to the truth that Fabian might buy it. “Leave him alone for now.”

 _And his family_ , he did not say. He didn’t want to know what would happen if Fabian got it into his head to use Leo’s sister and niece for leverage against him. 

Fabian and Gina exchanged a long glance between them and Nick waited for the verdict, standing as if on nails. Eventually, the silence broke. 

“All right,” Fabian said, smiling widely. He touched Nick’s shoulder again, mock affectionate. “I look forward to hearing from you again, pet.”

Nick didn’t even have the energy to smile back. He mumbled something inaudible, got down to the street and the waiting cab where he fell into the backseat and gave in to the horrible pain in his head.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 

The cab ride passed in a blur of excruciating pain and nausea. Nick vaguely remembered the driver turning around, asking him if he was all right. When all Nick managed to do was to give him the address, the driver said, “You better warn me if you’re gonna puke, d’you hear?”

He thought he’d managed to mumble something that could possibly be construed as a promise. The rest of the ride, he slumped against the seat, kept his eyes closed, and tried to keep his stomach contents where they belonged. Every streetlight and headlight outside the window was hammering on his eyelids. The car horns and city noises were drilling into his ears. He knew there was something he’d forgotten, something he should have thought of, but the only thing he could think of was to get home and collapse on his bed until the migraine went away.

Somehow, the taxi reached the curb outside Nick’s building. The driver turned around again and said something, but Nick felt like he was watching the man through some thick gelatinous material that made every light source nearby intolerably bright, and he couldn’t make any sense the words. He fumbled for his wallet and got out a couple of bills that he couldn’t make out the denomination of, but the driver didn’t protest, so he must have handed over the right change. Then he got the door open and stumbled out into the street, the entire world spinning around him.

He got stuck at the front door where he just couldn’t fit the key into the keyhole. He leaned against the wall of the building, leaned his aching head against the cool stone, and felt like crying. There was no way he’d ever make it up to his apartment. Maybe if some merciful passersby got it into their head to give him a hand. But who would stop to help _him_?

Then, like a miracle, the heavy door opened. Nick tried to pry his eyes open and saw, in the bright beam of the streetlight, Leo stepping outside. The light was forming a golden halo around his head and Nick thought for one short delirious moment that he was seeing an angel.

“Hey, are you all right?” 

There seemed to be a lag between the words and the way Leo’s mouth moved. Nick heard what he said, but couldn’t quite comprehend it. All he knew was that he was so damn grateful that Leo was still _there_. The keys slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground with a deafening clatter. He felt himself begin to slide to the ground, but Leo reached out and caught him. His hands were warm and steady around Nick’s arms and it just felt so good that Nick couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward into Leo’s shoulder and let pained little whimper slip out. Leo patted his back, a little bit awkwardly, but didn’t push him away. Instead, he slipped a hand into Nick’s pocket and pulled something out... right, the phone. He knew he’d forgotten something.

“Shit,” Leo whispered, “Never do that again, okay? I had no idea what was going on.” He ended the call, slid the phone back into Nick’s pocket, and wrapped Nick’s arm around his shoulders, careful not to jostle him. “Let’s get you upstairs, can you walk?”

Nick murmured something that might have been an affirmative, but it was impossible to tell for certain. He wasn’t even sure if he _could_ walk, but his feet seemed to be moving at least, even if he seemed to be a little uncertain on which way was which. Without Leo to shore him up, he would probably have fallen over long ago.

The stairs were difficult. More than once, Nick had to swallow against the nausea. He kept leaning into Leo, feeling like the contact was the only thing that kept him afloat in the angry sea of pain. 

They reached the apartment, and Leo hustled him through the door. Nick suddenly remembered that he’d dropped his keys, and tried to turn around. He couldn’t leave them down on the street. Leo stopped him. “Hey, hey, I’ve got your keys, okay? I’m going to put them down right here. How are you feeling? Can you tell me what’s wrong, did they do something to you?” 

Nick tried to answer, but couldn’t get his mouth to form words. His tongue was thick, and the light in the hall was like a blinding stroboscope. Leo let go of him for a moment, and Nick had to reach out to steady himself against the wall. Bedroom. He had to lie down, because he wasn’t going to be able to stay on his feet for much longer.

Leo’s arms returned, wrapped around him, supporting him into the bedroom. He was making comforting noises that Nick couldn’t make any sense of, but he had a fleeting thought that he could get used to this care and concern. 

Then, he was lying down, finally. The abrupt change in position made the room spin around again and he had to fight hard to keep from being sick. The fabric of the sheets was refreshingly cool against his clammy skin. Nick closed his eyes, pressed his face into the pillow, and let a pitiful moan slip out of his mouth. He vaguely thought that he ought to try to get up, explain to Leo what was going on, but he couldn’t make his limbs move. The pain was exploding through his brain, through his neck and spine, until the headache was a full-body agony. 

Through the pain-haze he heard Leo move around in the apartment, walking in and out of the bathroom, putting something down beside the bed, talking softly to someone on the phone. Every sound magnified until it felt like a sledgehammer against Nick’s skull. He gripped the undersheet and held on, trying to find some kind of anchor now that Leo had let go of him.

Some time later, he heard the doorbell give a shrill noise that made him want to sob, and the door opened. Low voices were coming from the hall. Then, someone came into the bedroom and knelt beside the bed.

“Damn, you’re a mess,” said a soft, worried voice. Nick knew that voice, knew it better than he knew himself, but he was too tired and in too much pain to put a name to it. There was new movement, more talking in the background, and Nick wanted to scream at them to just be quiet and leave him alone to die in peace, but he couldn’t get a sound out.

Time passed again. The next time someone entered the bedroom, they helped him sit up, swallow pills, sip water. A cool washcloth was placed on his forehead, and he was allowed to lie down again.

“There’s a trashcan right here if you have to be sick,” the familiar voice said, a slight southern tinge of an accent to it. 

Nick lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. His head was going to split into little bits, he was sure of it. He heard the sound of retreating steps, of the bedroom door closing. 

He must have slept at some point, because when he woke up, there was light seeping in through the closed curtains in the window. He moved gingerly, bracing in anticipation for a new wave of pain, but he found that the headache was all but gone. Only a lingering pressure over his temples remained. 

His mouth was dry and he felt muzzy and exhausted and generally terrible, but he could think again and that was an improvement. It took him a little longer to get going, to move out of the bed and get to his feet. Once he managed that, he found that he was still wearing his clothes from the night before. Someone had removed his suit jacket and his shoes at least.

There were voices coming from the front room. Nick racked his memory for flashes of the night before and recalled the dinner with Fabian and Gina and the creepy little doctor, but not much else, except for arriving home in a terrible state and being helped up to the apartment by Leo.

Leo. 

Oh damn. They were going to have to talk about what had happened yesterday. Nick was going to have to explain that he had no intention of double crossing Leo, even if he’d made it sound that way to Fabian. He hoped it wouldn’t be too hard to make him believe that. And there were other things to consider as well. He had to make sure Chrissie was safe, to begin with, and they needed to come up with some kind of plan to make sure nothing happened to Leo’s sister and niece. 

Too much to do, far too little time to do it. 

Nick stretched and yawned, got out of the dress pants and shirt, and put on some jeans and a clean t-shirt. He was going to shower later, but right now his mouth was dry as a desert and he needed water and some caffeine to chase away the traces of the headache. He should probably eat something as well. At least he hadn’t thrown up this time, not as far as he could remember.

He opened the bedroom door and ventured out into the apartment where he found Alyssa and Leo parked on the couch in the front room. Alyssa was holding Nick’s laptop and Leo had a cell phone in his hand and earbuds in his ears. They both looked up when they saw him.

“Hi there!” Alyssa said, smiling. “Feeling better?”

“Yes.” Nick was still a little confused. “What are you doing here?”

Alyssa pointed her thumb at Leo. “The superhero here called me last night and had a panic attack in my ear. I had to come and save him.”

Leo blushed all the way to the tip of his ears. It was still endearing, and Nick tried to convince himself once again that he didn’t care. 

“You were really sick,” Leo said sheepishly. And held up his thumb and forefinger one inch apart. “I was this close to calling an ambulance.”

Nick shuddered, thinking about sirens and blinking red and blue lights. “Yeah, that wouldn’t have been a good idea.” He ducked his head, feeling a bit self-conscious. He wasn’t used to letting his guard down around people, and last night had qualified in the worst way. “Um, thanks,” he said. “For helping. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, I did.” 

There was a long moment of awkward silence, during which Alyssa’s grin grew wider and more obnoxious for every second. Then, Leo cleared his throat and changed the subject. 

“So, I recorded the phone call yesterday and we’ve been transcribing it.”

“About that,” Nick hurried to say. “I have a plan, even if it didn’t sound like it.”

“I think I have it figured out already.” Leo took the earbuds out of his ears and put the phone down on the sideboard. “Not that you didn’t nearly gave me a heartattack when you started talking about me.” He paused, a flash of intense worry passing over his face. “I should probably set something up for Linda and Maggie, huh?”

Nick nodded solemnly. “Might not be a bad idea. I don’t think he’s going to go after them, not while he thinks I’m _his_ informant. But I’d say it’s wise to make plans, just in case. Is there somewhere they can go?” Leo opened his mouth to say something, but Nick held up his hand. “No, wait, don’t tell me. It’s best if I don’t know about it.”

“All right.” Leo dutifully shut his mouth and motioned to the cell phone. “Well, I’m going to have to tell my lieutenant about all this. It’s pretty huge, isn’t it? And who is this Mathers person?”

“I’ll look him up. The name rings a bell.” Nick turned, heading for the kitchen. “I’m making coffee. Do you want anything?”

“You don’t _have_ anything!” Alyssa chimed in. “Believe me, we checked yesterday. _Twice._ And then we sat here and starved all night.”

Leo blushed again and got up from the couch. “It wasn’t that bad, really.” His stomach rumbled loudly, proving the lie. Nick remembered how he’d been eating everything in sight at the Showroom two days earlier, and thought that Leo probably needed quite a lot of food to sustain that impressive physique. 

“I’ll see what I can scare up,” he said. There ought to be some powdered eggs somewhere, maybe bread if he was lucky. 

Alyssa trailed after him to the kitchen and watched as he made coffee and rooted through the cupboards for something edible. Alyssa had been right, there really wasn’t much. He’d have to go grocery shopping soon.

The bread was past stale, but there were a few packets of instant noodles lying around, as well as some cup o’soup. Not exactly breakfast food, but it would have to do.

“I didn’t think you two would get along,” Nick told Alyssa, nodding in the direction of the living room. “You were pretty pissed with him yesterday.”

“Oh, he knows exactly what will happen if he decides to screw you over again. We have an understanding.” 

Well, that explained why Leo had seemed to be so wary of Alyssa earlier. You did not want to end up on her bad side.

Then, Alyssa’s look softened. “You know, I wasn’t kidding about him panicking,” she said. “He was so worried when I got here yesterday. I think he really cares about you.”

Nick made a noncommittal noise and turned back to his coffee. He was getting that impression as well, and he didn’t want to think about what it meant. Especially not when he was getting more and more afraid that he was beginning to care about Leo too. It was difficult _not_ to.

Some time later, they were sitting in the front room. Leo was slurping noodles from a giant bowl and eating peanut butter right out of the jar while Nick sipped his coffee. Alyssa had an early shift and had unwillingly been forced to take off, after having secured a promise to be kept in the loop.

“Can you come with me to meet my boss?” Leo asked Nick, devouring the last of the noodles. “I have to report in and we need to figure out what the best course of action is.”

The idea of going anywhere near a building full of cops made Nick balk automatically, but Leo’s puppy-dog look of hopefulness made him at least consider it. 

“Nothing will happen to you, I promise,” Leo said, as if sensing Nick’s hesitation.

“Fabian said he owns enough police officers that he won’t have to worry about the law,” Nick reminded him. “You can’t possibly promise me something like that.”

Leo laughed. “Not my lieutenant,” he said. “She’d die before she crawled into Fabian Frost’s pocket.” He seemed so completely sure of it that Nick didn’t have the heart to argue with him. He grabbed his laptop instead and did a search for the mysterious Dr Mathers. 

The list of results was extensive. There were titles of articles, prize awards, reports from lectures and symposiums, all on various forms of nanotechnology and its uses. Nick skimmed through most of it just to confirm his vague memories. Then he checked the timeline. There were almost no current reports on the doctor’s whereabouts. The last time he’d held a position at a university had been seven years ago. 

“That’s interesting,” Nick muttered to himself.

Leo stood up and got over to the couch to peer over his shoulder. The intimacy was somewhat distracting, but the information he was reading was more interesting and he let the sensation of Leo’s shoulder brushing against his arm drift into the background.

It was difficult to find any real facts about what had happened, but as far as Nick could tell, Dr Mathers had been strongly encouraged to leave his position after a controversy involving an article. It was almost impossible to find what the article in question had been about. He had to go through old message boards and read ages-old archived student gossip before he discovered that Dr Elroy Mathers had allegedly been involved in some very unsavoury research. Students attached to his experiments refused to say anything about what was being done. There had also been reports of several homeless people and transients going missing in the area. No one had been able to prove anything, but in the end, Mathers had been informed that his presence was no longer required.

“I have a question,” Leo said, still looking at the screen. “Yesterday, you were talking about transhumanist theory. I’m not really familiar with that word.”

“No?” Nick raised an eyebrow. “You ought to be. It’s pretty much what you are.”

Leo still looked like a question mark. “I majored in Criminology,” he said, somewhat vexed. “It wasn’t exactly something that came up.”

Nick put the laptop down. Dr Mather’s thin face was staring at him from the screen out of an old photograph. It was unsettling enough to make him turn away.

“Transhumanists advocate the use of technology to improve the human race,” he explained. “It’s about enhancing intellectual, physical and psychological capacities, starting the transition from human to posthuman.” 

“Sounds dangerous,” Leo said with a frown. “Elitist. I’m not sure I like it.”

Nick cocked his head to the side and watched him, narrowing his eyes. “Technically, we’re both products of this line of thinking,” he said. “The Zarathustra Project was huge in transhumanist circles when the report was leaked. But you’re not wrong. Back in -04, a scientist called Fukuyama called it ‘The world’s most dangerous idea’. He thought it would be one of the most destructive thoughts in the years to come. There’s a difference in opinion between people who think it encompasses human ideals and aspirations and those who believe it’s the beginning of the end of humanity as we know it.” 

“And this guy used to work on stuff like that?” Leo pointed at the picture of Mathers. “What was he trying to do exactly?”

“We used some of Mather’s research when we built this,” Nick tapped his temple, indicating the implant. “It’s brilliant, really. His molecular nanotechnology could have enormous implications for medicine. Imagine getting a shot of tiny little robots into your bloodstream that could be programmed to track down what’s wrong and fix it! It was pretty revolutionary stuff when the first articles were published.” He could feel himself getting a little agitated and did his best to curb his enthusiasm. “Anyway, from what I can tell, it looks like the good doctor went a little too far. He abandoned the altruistic applications of the technology and started researching ways to change human biology instead.”

“He wanted to give people abilities.” Leo concluded. “There must have been protests, even then.”

Nick nodded. “His peers certainly disapproved. I don’t think there’s anyone in the reputable scientific community that wants anything to do with him anymore. Which explains why Fabian snatched him up, I guess. Mathers needs the funding and the resources Fabian can provide, and Fabian wants to use the doctor’s work for his own gain.” He paused, thinking it over. “This is huge. And I can’t see a way it’ll work out well for ordinary people.”

When the first people with abilities had surfaced, they had been met with fear and suspicion from the general public. Nick remembered from his own childhood how ‘freak’ had been a common insult thrown around in the schoolyard. After a famous actress and a few politicians had revealed their abilities, public opinion had slowly but surely began to change. But Nick could still recall the kid he’d gone to school with, a boy with webbed fingers and toes. Josiah had been a fantastic swimmer, but he’d been ruthlessly tormented every day in school. Even now, there were special schools and classes set up for kids with abilities. 

Nick turned to Leo, suddenly curious. “Your niece, does she go to Glenn Academy?” 

Chicago had one of the oldest and most well-known schools for children with special abilities. Parents from all over the country sent their children there. It was the reason for why Alyssa’s family had moved north all those years ago.

Leo shook his head. “No, she’s going to a normal school. She takes a few classes at Glenn, but Linda wants her to socialize with norm kids as well.”

“And that works out for her?” When Nick grew up, any kid who was different would be ganged up on immediately. Maybe things really had changed since then.

“Yeah.” Leo smiled proudly. “She’s well liked. But Maggie’s always made friends easily. She hasn’t had any problems as far as I know.”

The girl had to take after her uncle, Nick decided. He turned back to the chilling picture of Dr Mathers on the computer screen, watching the pale eyes while he tried to figure out what was going on in that man’s head.

“Fabian said he wanted an army,” he said slowly. “So what war is he planning on fighting?”


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

At first glance, Lieutenant Sabrina Zheng was a tiny, doll-like woman. At second glance, she was still tiny. Leo towered over her like a huge, hulking mountain of muscle. But there was incredible strength in her dark brown eyes. She wore an elegant pant suit with a bright fuchsia blouse and flat, sensible shoes. More than anything, it was the shoes that made Nick like her. Any short woman who valued comfortable shoes over the few extra inches a pair of heels would give her could probably be trusted.

Walking into the precinct where Leo worked had been unnerving to say the least. Nick couldn’t help feeling like every policeman in the building was watching him, even though Leo kept assuring him that no one had recognised him. 

Lieutenant Zheng kept her office neat and ordered. On the walls were several commendations and a number of awards from shooting competitions. On the desk stood two framed pictures, one of a dark-haired man with a thin beard and heavy-framed glasses, and another featuring two children, a boy who also wore glasses and a little girl who was missing her front teeth. A green plant in a pink pot stood on the edge of the desk.

There were some thin lines around the woman’s eyes and mouth, and her straight black hair had some white strands in it, but those were the only testament to her age. She had a very vital look about her, and seemed full of energy. 

Nick had kept his mouth shut while Leo reported everything that had happened during the last few days. Thankfully, he left out some parts, although the Lieutenant’s expression made it quite clear that she was probably aware of what had happened during their night together. 

When Leo was done, Zheng turned to Nick, studying him with penetrating scrutiny. “I can’t help wishing someone had managed to bring you in here earlier, Mr Vargas,” she said. “But I suppose beggars can’t be choosers.” 

She tapped her fingers against a folder in the middle of the desk. “I have a deal here from the District Attorney’s office,” she said. “I had to call in quite a few favors to get it, and I would strongly suggest you accept it, because this is a one time offer.”

Nick wasn’t sure he liked her tone and gave Leo a sideways glance, but Leo only nodded encouragingly. Ah well. He’d come this far, he might as well hear the woman out.

“I’m listening,” he said. 

“In return for your co-operation, you get full immunity for any felonies that might be uncovered during the course of this investigation. I understand you have some documentation on Fabian Frost that could be of use to us?”

Nick shrugged. “Not sure how much use it’ll be anymore, but yeah, sure. I’ve got a couple of things.”

“Are you willing to hand it over?”

Another look at Leo, who still looked like a proud parent at his kid’s first day at school.

“Do I have a choice?”

Leo opened his mouth. “It would really help us, Nick,” he said pleadingly. 

It wasn’t like there was much use arguing. Between Leo and Lieutenant Zheng, Nick knew he had no chance to get out on top of this situation. “I don’t have access to it right now,” he said, turning to Leo. “My copy was lost when I fried my computer and I made Alyssa hand hers over to someone else; couldn’t risk someone coming after her. I can get it, but I’m going to need a little time.” It looked like he was going to have to plan a visit to the Librarian sometime soon. Might as well get it over with. 

Zheng gave him a long, steady look. “Mr Vargas, I hope you realize that this entire investigation hinges exclusively on you at the moment. Leo is vouching for you, but I want you to know that I still haven’t decided if I trust you or not.”

Really? Nick studied her carefully, took in the steel hard gaze, the pursed lips. This was a test, he realized. He thought for a split moment, and then said, “Bullshit.”

“Pardon me?”

“I said, that’s bullshit.” He grinned, a smirk that might have been a little bit too smug. “I could take out Chicago PD:s entire network without even getting out of this chair. If you really didn’t trust me, you wouldn’t have let me in the building.”

Zheng frowned. For a second, Nick thought he’d blown everything, that she was going to take her folder and her deal and snatch it away. Then, she leaned back in her over-sized office chair and gave him a pleased little smile. “They say you’re smart. I see you know how to read people as well. That’s good.”

“Can’t escape learning that when you spend any amount of time around Fabian Frost,” Nick said.

Zheng opened the folder and pushed it over the table to Nick. He read through the documents carefully, making sure there were no loopholes that would put him behind bars anyway, and then took the offered pen out of her hand to sign the documents. “This can’t leave the room,” he said when he was done, closing the folder and handing it back to Zheng. “I’m not kidding. It can’t go in any systems, it can’t be filed anywhere official until it’s all over. Fabian has people everywhere. If he finds out about this, I’m dead.”

He half expected Zheng to start protesting at his accusation of corruption within the police force, but she only nodded solemnly, took the folder, put it in her desk drawer and locked it with a little key. A realist then, that was good. 

“How soon can you get us those files you have?” she asked. 

Nick checked the time. It was a little after noon. If he called ahead, he could schedule a visit with the Librarian in a couple of hours. “I should be able to get to them by tonight,” he said, calculating the time it would take to get him there and back. “Besides, I need to set up that new meeting with Fabian as well.”

Zheng opened her mouth to say something, but Nick got there first. “No wire, no back-up,” he said. “That’s the only safe way for me to do this.”

She didn’t look happy about it, but she nodded her assent. “I hear you’ve set up a cover trying to recruit Leo here,” she said, nodding in Leo’s direction. 

Nick waited, wondering if she was going to ream him out for it, but was almost a little surprised when she continued, “Keep working on that. I want Frost to get used to seeing you two in each other’s company.” She smiled sardonically. “It seems to be the only way I can keep an eye on you, Mr Vargas, and I have to admit, I’m reluctant to let you loose without a minder.”

Leo opened his mouth to protest, but Zheng held up a hand in his direction. For such a small woman, she had an incredibly forceful personality, Nick noted. She managed to completely fill the room. He wondered idly if she had any special abilities, or if it was natural. 

“As for you, Officer Harding, I’d like you to keep an eye on this man. I’m sure you can use your discretion, but do not let anything happen to him, is that understood?”

Leo nodded. “Of course.”

“Do I need to put a watch on your family?”

“It wouldn’t hurt.”

Nick raised his hand. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. If...” he turned to Leo, trying to sound calming, “...and I say _if_ , Fabian has them under surveillance, he’ll notice something is up. If it comes to that, I know some people who can help.” At least he hoped he did. 

“All right, gentlemen.” Zheng stood up, placing her palms on the desk to signal that the audience was over. “I want you to keep me informed of all developments. She turned to Nick. “I’m taking a big chance on you. Don’t disappoint me, or I’ll make your life more miserable than Frost could ever dream of.”

Nick tried not to let his swallow sound too audible, but it probably wasn’t much of a success. He stood up and shook her tiny hand. She had a very strong grip. 

Leo stayed behind for a few minutes, talking to Lieutenant Zheng in private. Nick waited outside her office, hunched down in his coat, hoping no-one would notice him. He wondered how many people knew about the deal and how big the risk was that word of it would reach Fabian. If it did, would he be able to turn it around in his favor?

He took the opportunity to call ahead and set up a meeting with the Librarian. True to form, she sounded like a visit was the biggest inconvenience imaginable, but she relented when he reminded her of the money he owed her. He’d have to take care of that too. He still had a bit of money put away for emergencies and he figured he might as well use his ill-gotten gains for wicked purposes. 

When Leo came out of Lieutenant Zheng’s office, his shoulders were a little bit slumped. He looked tired, Nick thought, and suddenly felt a little guilty about it. Leo couldn’t have gotten much more sleep that Nick had during the past few days. From the sound of it, he was pretty durable, but the strain was beginning to show.

“Everything okay?” he asked before he could stop himself.

Leo gave him a tired but pleased smile, like he was glad for the concern. Nick made a note not to let any more thoughtless comments like that slip out. This was a strict business relationship right now. He couldn’t afford to let his guard down so much in Leo’s company.

They left through the parking garage and got into Leo’s Toyota. “You want to go meet that contact of yours now?” he asked. “I should probably come with you.”

Nick thought about it and came to the conclusion that it probably wouldn’t hurt. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go see the Librarian.”

Leo did a double take. “The Librarian? I thought she was an urban legend?” He shifted and started the car, slowly pulling out of the garage. 

“That’s what she wants people to believe,” Nick answered absentmindedly. He looked out of the window, suddenly very conscious of the close proximity between them in the car. He’d only have to reach out a little bit to the side to touch Leo’s arm. _Business relationship_ , he reminded himself again.

Nick gave directions and Leo drove in silence. It was like a heavy smothering blanket, itching at the skin. It wasn’t long until Nick had had enough of it and reached for the radio, switching it on with a touch of his mind. The sound of a sports game filled the car, basketball from the sound of it. Nick couldn’t care less, but it was better than silence, and Leo wasn’t protesting. 

“You know, I keep wondering why you’re doing this,” Leo said after a while. They were more or less halfway to their destination. “You were pretty adamant before that you didn’t want to have anything to do with it.”

Nick didn’t meet his eyes, kept looking out of the window at the wintry street outside. People and cars were passing. “Fabian wants to take the technology I helped create and turn it into something it wasn’t intended for,” he said. He hadn’t realized it until the words left his mouth, but that was exactly why he needed to do everything in his power to make sure Fabian and Dr Mathers did not get their hands on the neural interface technology. The thought of having that weighing on his conscience on top of everything else was more than he could stand. 

“But it’s not your responsibility, is it?” Leo asked, giving him an innocent look. “I mean, just because you made it doesn’t mean you can control what other people do with it, right?”

Nick thought about that for a while. Then another thought flashed through his brain, and he turned to face Leo, suddenly a bit vexed. “Are you playing devil’s advocate with me?” he asked. 

Leo shrugged, both hands still firmly placed on the wheel. “Maybe?”

There was a new period of silence in the car. Leo looked like he was trying not to squirm in his seat. Nick was studying him now, taking note of every change in expression.

“You’re a lot smarter than you’re pretending to be, aren’t you?” he asked finally. “This average, good-natured, strong guy, it’s just an act.”

Leo didn’t answer at first. His mouth twisted into an uncomfortable little grimace. He kept both eyes on the road, not even glancing at Nick.

“It’s what you get used to, growing up like this,” he said after a little while. “I was always different. Other kids were scared of me. My own _mom_ was scared of me. She never said anything, but when she looked at me, she always saw what I _could_ be, not what I actually was. It’s... a sort of inverted mimicry, I guess. Do your best to appear harmless so people won’t see you as a threat. Don’t stand out, don’t draw any attention to yourself.”

Nick could imagine Leo growing up, playing with normal kids, always having to be careful so he wouldn’t hurt anyone, always having that big advantage that would make his friends resent him. It suddenly made a lot of sense how he had turned out the way he did. To Leo, being likeable was a survival tactic.

“Sounds lonely,” he said, the words once again slipping out without his leave.

Leo shook himself loose of the fugue and the mask slipped back on, hiding the glimpse of the true Leo that Nick had imagined. “Nah. It wasn’t all bad. I had Tom, my adoptive dad. He was pretty good about it. We talked a lot, y’know. I probably wouldn’t have become a cop if it wasn’t for him.”

“Sounds like a good guy,” Nick said. He could barely remember his own father, had just seen the photographs his mother had kept, tucked away so she wouldn’t have to look at them. There had been times when Nick had arrived home from school to find her already asleep on the couch, an empty bottle and a glass on the floor beside her, and the ratty sofa table full of old pictures. He’d always had it all cleaned up and put away by the time she woke up and they never talked about it. 

“He is.” Leo’s jaw clenched a little bit. Maybe the conversation had brought up a memory from the past, something he hadn’t wanted to think of. Then, the moment passed. 

Nick checked the streets. They had reached the warehouse district and the streets were all alike, but he knew the area well enough to find his way. “Take a left down here,” he said. “It should be just around the corner. We’re a little early so we’ll have to wait for her.”

They got out in the middle of a small parking lot in front of a number of old building barracks. Nick checked the time. They were five minutes early. The Librarian was always on time, no matter the occasion. 

Leo walked around the place, checked the corners and the nooks and crannies. He seemed to be securing the area, probably out of old habit. Nick wasn’t worried at the moment, though. Fabian would not have followed them down here. He knew better than to get in the way of the Librarian.

At two o’clock sharp an old rusty Honda Accord came chugging into the parking lot. It looked like it was kept together with duct tape and bubble gum. Leo reached in under his jacket for the weapon he kept in a shoulder holster on top of his sweatshirt, but Nick held out a hand to stop him. “It’s her,” he said. “She doesn’t like guns so keep that away.”

The Librarian stepped out of the car. She was a plump woman with middle-brown hair in a thin ponytail down her back. A pair of glasses were perched on her nose. They kept sliding down and she kept using her middle finger to push them back up again, either unaware or uncaring that by doing so, she was flipping everyone around her the bird. 

There was a slight limp in her step when she came walking towards them. She wore a knee-length tan winter coat and had a wine red scarf wrapped around her neck. A worn old messenger bag was slung over her shoulder. Her face was formed into a scowl so deep that it looked like it had taken up permanent residence there. Nick had known her long enough to be aware of how true that actually was.

“Vargas,” growled the woman as she came within speaking distance. “You didn’t say anything about bringing a friend.”

Leo smiled and reached out her hand in his trademark friendly gesture. “Ma’am, nice to meet you, I’m...”

“No-one I particularly care about,” the Librarian interrupted, turning to Nick. “I’m not a storage service,” she said.

“I know.” Nick spread his hands, trying to placate her. “I really appreciate the help, Mina. I owe you one.”

“You owe me twenty grand, that’s what you do.” She reached into her pocket for a key and hobbled over to the building barracks, unlocking the door. “Come on in then, I don’t have time to stand around here all day.”

Stepping into the barrack was like stepping through the door to enter a study at Oxford. There was a large heavy wooden desk with a green table lamp. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and there was a glass cabinet where a few especially valuable volumes were kept behind etched glass doors. In one corner was an overstuffed leather chair, and beside it a low round table with ivory inlays in the wood, covered with a high pile of books.

The Librarian stepped over to the desk and used another key to unlock a drawer. She fished Nick’s flashdrive out and handed it to him. “There. Now, where is my money?”

“You’ll have it tomorrow, I promise. You know I’m good for it.”

The Librarian snorted. “That’s what your friend said yesterday. I hear you’re going to try to make trouble for Fabian Frost?”

Nick nodded and took the drive out of her hand. He let it slide into his pocket, not wanting to hand it over to Leo until they were out of sight. “Where did you hear that?”

She tapped her nose, walked over to the chair, and sat down, reaching for a big, leatherbound book. “I know everything, you should know that by now. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone. About time someone put that man in his place if you ask me.”

“Seems like a lot of people have been telling me that lately,” Nick said. He could feel Leo watching him, the look itching on the skin of his neck. “Seems like a lot of people have gotten into their head that I’m the one to do it too. Any idea why that is?”

“Good advice is extra,” spat the Librarian. Then her glower softened a little bit. Only people who knew her would recognize it for the tiny smile it was. “In my experience, if there’s a general consensus, it’s best to listen to it. You should make up your own mind, of course, but if everyone are saying something, odds are they’re a little bit right.”

Nick couldn’t help wondering what she meant by that exactly. Then again, the Librarian enjoyed speaking in riddles, so much more clever than everyone else that she refused to give out any information at all that the recipient didn’t have to work for.

“Thanks, I think,” he muttered. 

They left her in the barrack and walked back to the car. Nick handed over the drive and Leo took it, brushing their fingers together as he did so. 

Nick took out his cell phone and dialled Fabian’s private number. He’d been told to call the office to set up the new meeting, but he wanted to talk to Fabian in person, see if he could get a read on what was happening. Besides, he knew it would annoy Fabian and that was a bonus. 

It took a while for Fabian to pick up the call, and when he did, there was a very irritated note in his voice. “What?” he barked out. 

Nick had to smile to himself. Mission accomplished. “Fabian,” he said. “I was just calling to set up that meeting we were talking about yesterday. How are you? You sound a little upset.”

He could almost imagine how much of an effort it took for Fabian to get a hold of himself. When he answered again, his voice was back to the silky smooth tone, even if there was still an undercurrent of displeasure there. Nick was suddenly desperate to know why.

“Not at all,” Fabian said. “Merely a little snag that needs to be sorted. Where are you, pet?”

Nick looked around the parking lot. There was no one else in sight. “Oh, I’m around,” he said. “Running a few errands, you know how it is.” 

Had Fabian already found out about his visit to the police precinct? Nick immediately started running through possible explanations should Fabian decide to ask about that. He could probably milk Leo’s supposed ‘crush’ for a while, but sooner or later, he was going to have to find a way to justify keeping Leo around, especially now that Lieutenant Zheng had instructed them to stick together. 

But Fabian made no mention of it. Nick started to breathe out.

“I have a few things I need to sort today,” Fabian said. Nick could hear a faint rustling of paper on the other side of the line. “Nothing important, just business matters. Can we meet tomorrow? I’d like you to see what we’ve accomplished so far. And maybe we could have dinner afterwards, just you and me? I’ve missed your company, pet.”

Nick felt vaguely ill at the thought. Was he going to have to go that far? He really hoped not. Then again, given the lengths Leo had gone to to get the information he needed out of Nick’s computer, maybe he expected Nick to do the same.

He thought about going to bed with Fabian again. It would probably be good. It had always been good. And yet, it had always made him feel slightly dirty and used afterwards, like he’d only been there for Fabian’s pleasure. In hindsight, that had been the case most of the time.

“We’ll see,” he said, keeping the distaste out of his voice. “I have a lot of work to do if you really want to use our old research. I haven’t looked it over in years.”

“Come to Frost Spire tomorrow at two o’clock then,” Fabian said. If he was disappointed, he didn’t let it show. 

They hung up and Nick informed Leo about the plans. Leo looked like he didn’t like what he was hearing, but he still nodded. Nick couldn’t care less. If Leo wanted him undercover, he’d have to actually _meet_ the people he was trying to spy on. 

Leo switched the radio to a music station when they got back into the car. It was some kind of classic rock, easy listening, but more like background sound than anything that needed to be paid attention to. 

“She’s an interesting character,” Leo said, pointing his thumb over his back in the direction they had come from. “Why do people call her the Librarian?” 

“Because she likes books, I guess. Plus, she knows everything,” Nick said. “She has perfect recall.”

Leo looked intrigued. “You mean like one of those memory tricks?” he asked. “You know, when you’re supposed to imagine a big house and put the things you want to remember into different rooms?”

Nick shook his head and smiled. “No, I mean _perfect_ recall. Anything she hears or sees or experiences, she remembers. She’s made a living out of it for most of her life.”

Leo turned back, glancing over his shoulder, like he was trying to commit the parking lot and the way there to memory.

“Don’t bother,” Nick told him. “You won’t find her in the same place again.”


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

When the attack came, they were both completely unprepared. They were almost out of the warehouse district and Leo was humming along with the radio. He had a nice singing voice, Nick noted. 

Nick was checking e-mail on his phone and wasn’t watching the road. When Leo suddenly stepped on the brake, he was almost thrown head first into the dashboard. Nick looked up, more annoyed than scared, and shouted, “What the hell?”

Then he looked through the windshield and saw what had made Leo stop so abruptly. 

Frank Shane stood in the middle of the road. He was dressed in black from top to toe, black suit and trenchcoat, and the wind caught the tails of his coat, making it flap dramatically. Nick had to roll his eyes. Frank had always had a fondness for the theatrical. It had never bothered anyone before, but if he had abilities to back up his antics now, it was a different thing altogether.

“Who is that guy and what is he doing there?” Leo asked. He reached for the door handle, looking pissed. 

Nick reached out for him to hold him back, trying to stop him. He had no idea what Frank could do now, and he didn’t want to find out right here and now.

“Hey,” Leo shouted, half way out of the open door. “Want to get out of the road, mister? I almost ran you over!”

Still inside the car, Nick saw Frank smile. It was a slow, predatory smile. He suddenly remembered the night before at the restaurant, the sparks that had flown from Frank’s fingers when he’d rubbed them together.

There was a row of lights hanging over the street right above the car. The metal car. Nick quickly put two and two together and arrived at ‘Crap, we’re gonna die’’.

“Leo!” he shouted, while he made a desperate dive for his own door. “Get away from the car, _now_!”

He hit the street stumbling and struggled to find his feet, flailing around like Bambi on ice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Frank raise an arm toward the sky, his hand open in a claw-like gesture, like he was reaching up to pull something down. There was a crackling in the air, a smell of ozone, and Nick could feel his hair stand on end. He acted on pure instinct, ran as fast as he could towards a green plastic dumpster that stood along a wall, and took cover behind it. Looking back over his shoulder, he could see that Leo hadn’t made it many steps, and he heard someone urge the man to _move_. It took him a moment to realize that the voice was his own. 

Frank shouted something wordless and then laughed wildly as the sky opened and a flash of hot white lightning struck the car. The metal hull grounded the bolt, but the silver-colored Toyota still jumped a little bit where it stood. Leo was thrown away from the vehicle and fell to the ground, out of sight. Nick couldn’t see if he was moving. There was a stinging smell of burnt rubber. Nick gagged, swallowing around the nasty taste in the back of his throat, and risked sticking his head out from behind the dumpster.

“Come out, you coward!” yelled Frank. 

Nick frantically searched for any sign of Leo, and then let out a relieved breath when he could see movement on the other side of the smoking car. He returned to the comparably safe space behind the dumpster. 

“I’m good here, thanks!” he shouted back.

What the hell was Frank Shane doing here? Had Fabian sent him? In that case, Fabian had to know the truth about everything, and that was extremely bad news. Or had Frank simply taken matters into his own hands and decided to get rid of the competition?

There wasn’t much to work with in the street. Frank did have a cell phone on him so that was a possibility, but he had to find the best way to utilize it. The bolt of lightning had blown every fuse box in the area. It was getting dark and difficult to see. And there was something else, something unfamiliar and new, buzzing like a beehive on the outskirts of Nick’s tech-sense.. 

There was no time to figure out where it was coming from. Frank was coming closer, his hand stretched up towards the sky again. He looked ridiculous, like someone right out of the comic books he’d always liked so much.

“You need to be taught a lesson, Vargas!” he said. 

Nick had to hold back a burst of hysterical laughter. Frank even had the cliched bad guy dialogue down pat.

“Does Fabian know you’re out playing on your own?” he shouted back, daring to stick his head out again. He could hear muffled grunts from the other side of the destroyed Toyota. It was difficult to see and he had to crane his head a little to make it out in the dimly lit street.

Double crap. Leo must have been dazed from his tumble, not prepared for an attack, and now Lonnie Leblanc had him in an iron hold, one arm wrapped around his neck from behind. Leo was struggling to get loose, but didn’t seem to have much success. As Nick watched, Lonnie lifted him up and threw him over his shoulder, before Leo had any chance to get the leverage he needed to get out of the hold.

If Leo could only get himself loose and find his feet, he’d have Lonnie put to rights in the blink of an eye. Why wasn’t he fighting back more aggressively? Lonnie might be bigger but he didn’t have Leo’s enhanced strength. It shouldn’t be this much of a struggle. Nick winced in sympathy as Leo was thrown into the ground again with a groan. Lonnie still wouldn’t let go, and Leo had to have felt that fall.

Frank was coming closer. When Nick turned his attention back to him, he whipped his hand out to the side in a sharp jagged motion. Nick had just enough time to duck out from behind the dumpster before the entire thing exploded in a spark of electricity. The air turned heavy with the smell of melted plastic. 

“You see, Vargas,” Frank say calmly. “Everyone knows the boss doesn’t think rationally when it comes to you. We’re just looking out for him.”

So, Frank must be running his own race then. He’d always coveted the trust Fabian had given Nick back in the day. Having him come into the picture again must’ve been a terrible blow. At least that was a small relief. 

“So you thought you’d give your fancy new ability a test run?” Nick asked. He was looking for something else to hide behind. Never mind dignity; if running and hiding kept him alive, he would gladly be called a coward for it.

Frank looked incredibly pleased with himself. “I figured I needed the practice,” he said, and then pointed to where Leo and Lonnie were struggling. “And our boy Lonnie wanted a rematch somewhere the barman wouldn’t step in to save your cop friend’s pretty little ass. You get a taste of that yet?” 

“You jealous?” Nick shot back, knowing very well how much that would rile Frank up. 

Another thunderbolt came out of the sky. It hit the ground only a few feet away from where Nick was standing, and threw him to the ground. He’d expected it, and managed to hit the asphalt rolling so he came out in a low crouch, but he could still feel the electricity and it made his skin itch and his heart flutter. On the other side of the street, he saw Lonnie haul Leo from the ground again and send him flying into a pile of trash. He hit hard and didn’t get up again, even though Nick could still see him moving. No, Lonnie might not have Leo’s enhanced strength, but he was no lightweight, and his insensitivity to pain made him an almost unstoppable force. 

Nick had no time to worry about that now. He had to find a way to get them both out of here, preferably alive. The only thing he could think of to use was the car. The tires were half-melted from the initial flash of lightning, but when he reached out and checked the engine, it was still useable. 

Leo had stopped the engine before getting out of the car, and now Nick started it again, thankful that the car was new enough to have electronic ignition. 

“That won’t help you, Vargas,” laughed Frank. “Where do you think you’re going to go in that thing?”

Nick had the car in a steady hold now and he was pretty sure it would be good enough for what he had in mind. He was probably crazy for even attempting it, but he had to give it a try. 

“ _I’m_ not going anywhere,” he said. “But I’d get the hell out of here if I were you.”

Leo was struggling to get out of the trash heap. He looked beaten up, but not down, anger and frustration evident on his face. 

Lonnie didn’t seem to have paid any attention to what was going on in Frank and Nick’s end of the street, and he certainly hadn’t paid attention to the car. He’d never been the brightest bulb in the box, not the first person you went to when it came to strategy. Lonnie was a weapon, a tool you pointed at any problem that could be solved with simple, brute force. Nick had never had much in the way of physical power so he’d had to come up with different solutions to his problems. 

Solutions like a couple of thousand pounds of Japanese craftsmanship.

Lonnie never saw it coming. The car plowed into him from behind and drove him face first into the wall. It hadn’t had time to pick up enough speed to do any serious damage, but it effectively pinned him and made it impossible for him to move. He roared with rage and frustration, took hold of the bricks and tried to push the car back, but couldn’t move it one inch. 

Nick turned around, facing Frank, who was watching with wide eyes. There was a slowly dawning expression of alarm on his face, like he’d suddenly remembered exactly what Nick was capable of. 

Well, Nick was perfectly okay with that. 

“Next time you want to try to teach me a lesson, you’d better leave your cell phone at home, Frank,” he said quietly. 

He reached for the phone in Frank’s pocket, found the battery, and promptly shorted it out. There was a small explosion that made Frank jump high and yelp. A cloud of smoke came from his pocket and he quickly shrugged out of the stupid coat, threw it on the ground, and started stomping on it to put the flames out.   
.  
Nick didn’t waste any time. He hurried over to where Leo had just unsteadily climbed to his feet, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him away. Lonnie wasn’t going anywhere and Frank was busy for the moment. He was fairly certain that the blown phone ought to have cracked a few of his ribs at least. He hadn’t aimed to kill the man, just to create enough distraction for an escape. 

“I need to call this in!” Leo protested, pain evident in his voice. 

Nick didn’t let go of his arm and kept dragging him into an alley, toward the next street over. As soon as they reached more habitated areas, they’d be able to find a cab, or a car they could borrow. Nick hoped for the first option, since he figured Leo would probably have opinions about the second.

“We need to get the hell out of here,” he answered. 

Leo turned his head, looking back. “You ruined my _car_!” he exclaimed. 

“They started it!”

Nick wondered if Leo had hit his head. He didn’t seem to be quite all there, and there was a graze on his cheek, probably from where he’d been thrown into the ground. After a few steps, however, he seemed to find his balance and his eyes found their focus again. He was moving stiffly, like he was bruised all over, which he probably was. He’d taken a couple of really bad hits. 

“You okay?” Nick asked as soon as they were far enough away that he was beginning to feel halfway safe again. 

Leo winced and stretched, seemed to be taking stock of the damage. “I’ll live,” was the verdict. He cracked his neck and winced again. “That was humiliating.”

“No kidding?” Nick felt giddy with adrenaline. “You practically _let_ him beat you into the ground! What made you think that holding back against someone like Lonnie LeBlanc was a good idea?”

“I was raised not to hurt people,” Leo muttered.

“Well, Lonnie wasn’t!” Nick almost shouted in return. “Of all the stupid, stubborn…” Then he stopped himself, breathed deeply, and tried to find his focus again. This argument wasn’t leading anywhere, time to let it go and move on.

“All right. It’s okay, they got the drop on both of us,” Nick continued, in a somewhat calmer tone of voice. He hadn’t seen it coming at all. He wondered if he ought to tell Fabian that his minions were trying to think for themselves, or if he should keep it to himself and see if he could use it to his own advantage later. It might be useful if he had something to hold over Frank’s head, in case he tried something similar.

But first, they had to take care of the more immediate concerns. It was getting dark, and it was still a few blocks’ walk to a place where they could get hold of transportation. The big question was where to go. The police precinct? They still had to hand over the files to Zheng. A thought struck him. 

“Do you still have the drive?” he asked, turning to Leo. 

Leo checked his pocket. He seemed to be having a little trouble moving his right arm. “Yeah,” he said. “Still here.” He took it out. “It doesn’t look damaged. Were they after this?”

“They couldn’t possibly have known we were going to get it.” Nick said. “No, Frank was after me. That dick never liked me and no one was happier than him to see me leave. You were probably just a bonus.”

“You sure about that?” Leo asked. He looked concerned and angry. Nick could sympathise. He was more than a little angry himself. This was just the kind of complication he could’ve done without right now.

“More or less,” he said dismissively, and then, before he knew it, he found himself pressed up against the nearest wall, Leo’s left hand in an iron grip on his shoulder. Leo’s teeth were bared in a snarl. He looked like he wanted to kill someone and Nick was the closest available candidate. 

“You better be sure,” Leo said, his voice hard and unrelenting. “Because if you’re not sure, you’re risking my family’s life. So I’m going to ask you again; are you sure that I was not the target?”

Nick’s breath caught in his throat for a moment as a pang of arousal flashed through his body. He pushed it away. This was not the time nor the place. He met Leo’s eyes, deciding to go for honesty. 

“Right now, I’m not sure of _anything_ ,” he said. Leo was holding him so high that he had to stand on his toes. “Want to let me down?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Leo let go of him and Nick made a show of brushing off his coat so he could buy a little time to compose himself. Of all the times for his mind to end up in the gutter.

“This is all a huge game to you, isn’t it?” Leo asked sourly. He was dishevelled and a little pale, the graze on his face angry red against the freckles. Under the denim jacket, his sweatshirt was torn, and he had his right arm pressed against his side. He must have hurt it while he was being thrown around by Lonnie. _Good_ , a malevolent little voice at the back of Nick’s head whispered. Maybe that’ll finally teach him what happens when you cross Frost and his cronies. 

“Trust me, it’s not a game.” Nick reached into his pocket and took his cell phone out. It had survived Frank’s lightning bolts. ”I’m too likely to get killed for this to be a game, in case you hadn’t forgotten. Of course, if you’d prefer it, I could just turn around and walk away.” 

He pulled up a number in the contact list and called it. Leo watched, still with that angry, impatient look. “What are you doing _now_?”

There was a bit of suspicion in his voice. Nick sighed. “I’m going to ask a friend of mine to risk his own life to make sure your family is safe. Any objections?” He didn’t wait for Leo to answer when the call was picked up. “Hey Ev! It’s me. Listen, I need a favor if you have the time.”

The call only took a couple of minutes and Nick hung up with a faint sense of uneasiness. Ev had specifically listed his reasons for not wanting to get involved and now Nick was dragging him in anyway. “It’s taken care of,” he said. “Everett and Alyssa will keep an eye on them. You should call your sister and let her know what’s going on.”

Leo took out his cell phone. Nick knew even before it was out of his pocket that it had been broken in the fight, the circuits dead and dull. Leo gave the shattered display an exasperated look and Nick handed over his own phone. “Here, use mine.”

He went to check the escape routes while Leo made the call. There was no sign of Frank and Lonnie. They must’ve run off to lick their wounds. He wondered if they’d gotten Lonnie free from the car yet. 

They were still a couple of blocks away from anywhere they might find a cab, and he didn’t even know where to go. 

“We should get back to the precinct, let the Lieutenant know what’s going on,” Leo said, coming up behind him. Nick almost jumped. For someone of that size, Leo could move quietly when he wanted to. He handed Nick the phone and Nick put it back in his pocket. 

“We just came from there,” Nick reminded him. “Frank and Lonnie knew where to find us, so someone must have been keeping tabs on what we’ve been doing today. That includes the precinct.”

A new flash of anger moved over Leo’s face. “Are you saying that Sabrina sold us out?” he asked. For a moment, Nick thought he’d find himself manhandled around again. “What’s to say it wasn’t _your_ friend?”

Nick shrugged. “It could have been anyone, _including_ your people. I don’t want to risk running into those two again if I can help it, so lets try to avoid places where they might find us, okay?”

Leo gave a disgruntled nod, seemingly accepting the logic. “So what do we do?”

It was dark already and it wouldn’t be long until nightfall. Pretty soon, this area wouldn’t be safe, even absent of characters like Frank and Lonnie. Nick really wasn’t up to another confrontation like that one, and he was pretty sure Leo wasn’t either. He was already visibly slumping and he seemed to be getting more pale by the minute.

“Let’s get out of here to begin with,” Nick said. “You okay to walk?”

Leo nodded shortly, his jaw clenched. “Sure.”

Nick couldn’t help but wonder exactly how much pain he was in. The adrenaline had to be wearing off now. Nick’s certainly was, and he was feeling a little bit shaky. It had been a while since someone had last tried to kill him. He’d grown too comfortable after leaving Fabian, gotten out of the habit of always looking over his shoulder.

They started to walk. Nick led the way and Leo followed a few steps behind. The snow was coming down again, blanketing the deserted street in a layer of white. Nick tried to keep up the pace as much as he could. It was cold and he was beginning to freeze and wanted to get indoors as soon as he could. He wondered if he ought to call Alyssa, ask if they could come to her place, but he didn’t want to bring all this crap to her door if he could help it. They probably should just go back to Nick’s apartment. Yes, it was the most obvious place to come looking for him, but on the other hand, he knew it well enough to know what to do if someone did come knocking on the door with nefarious intents.

Leo was falling behind. Nick glanced back over his shoulder and saw that there was a fair bit of space between them now. He slowed his pace a bit to give Leo a chance to catch up, but the next time he looked back, he saw that Leo had stopped altogether and was leaning against a wall, a pained expression on his face. He had his right arm pressed hard against his side, definitely hiding something under that jacket. Nick wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what it was, but he couldn’t afford not to find out.

“Hey, what’s the matter with you,” he asked, doubling back to check on the man. 

Leo looked up and pushed away from the wall. It seemed to take a fair bit of effort and Nick’s worry ratcheted up one more notch.

“It’s fine,” Leo muttered.

Nick decided not to take his word for it. He grabbed the edge of Leo’s jacket, pulled it to the side, and swore. 

There was a tear in the fabric of his sweatshirt, dark with blood. Leo must have tried to use his arm to stop the bleeding, because there were red stains on his sleeve as well. 

“Shit,” Nick growled, taking hold of the edge of the sweatshirt and rucking it up so he could find the source of the blood. What he found was a deep gash in Leo’s side, stretching over his ribs. It was still seeping blood and when Leo twisted to try to get away, the ugly cut gaped open at the edges. Nick swore. “Shit, shit, shit, why didn’t you say anything, you moron?” 

Leo tried to pull his clothes down again. “It’s okay, it’s nothing.”

Nick pointed to the wound. “That is _not_ nothing. That needs stitches. Damnit, this is bad. How did it happen?”

Leo ducked his head, looking embarrassed. If he hadn’t been so pale, he would probably have blushed. “There must’ve been something sharp in that heap of trash. I didn’t even feel it at first.”

He was probably telling the truth, Nick thought. That didn’t make it much better. “You need a doctor,” he said. 

“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Leo tried to protest, peeking inside the shirt. The fabric brushed against the wound and he winced in obvious pain. “Okay, ow. Feeling it now. So, you’re probably right, we should stop by the ER.”

Nick tried to think. “Bad idea,” he said, and then, seeing Leo’s confused expression, continued. “Frank might seem like schmuck with bad fashion sense, but he’s got people of his own. My bet is that Fabian doesn’t know he did this, and he doesn’t want him to find out either. Frank’s probably watching the hospitals, it won’t be safe.”

Leo leaned back against the wall again. He looked exhausted, like all energy had suddenly drained out of him. Probably feeling the blood loss now. “All right,” he said, a slightly bewildered tone in his voice. “Any bright ideas?”

Nick had a few, but there was really only one alternative he could think of that would be sensible right now. He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t see any other choice. Leo needed medical attention, and to judge by the bone white colour of his face, he needed it soon. 

“Only one.” He chewed on his lip. “We need to find a way to get there though. Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” It took Leo a little longer to push away from the wall this time, and when he was standing without support, he swayed a little, like he was getting light headed. The wound, in combination to the beating he’d taken, was clearly beginning to take its toll on him. Nick would be surprised if he didn’t have at least a couple of cracked ribs as well. As they started walking again, he stayed close to Leo, just in case he’d need a hand if he suddenly stumbled. 

The entire situation was getting out of hand. Nick went back to wondering if he ought to contact Fabian, let him know what Frank and Lonnie was up to. Maybe he’d be able to play them against each other. Did Gina know? It was always difficult to tell with her. Anyone who spent any length of time around her automatically got used to guarding their thoughts, and Nick knew he was better at it than most. He’d had a lot of practice even before he’d taken up with Fabian and his associates. 

They needed to find somewhere they could just lie low and come up with a good solid plan. Leo needed medical attention. It had to be a place where Fabian wouldn’t think to look, somewhere Frank and Lonnie wouldn’t even know existed. Nick knew just the place.

And they needed to find a way to get there, preferably one that didn’t involve walking much longer. Leo was already beginning to sag against him, clearly running out of juice. 

At least there was an easy solution to _that_ problem.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“I still don’t see why we had to steal a car,” Leo said. There was an honest to god pout on his face. Nick couldn’t decide if it was cute or annoying. 

There were times when Nick’s ability gave him nothing but trouble, but when it came to breaking into modern cars, it came in handy. They had found the car parked in the street and Nick had decided that they were in more need of the flashy BMW than the original owner.

“Technically, I think we commandeered it,” he said, trying to look innocent. Truth to be told, he didn’t like the color of Leo’s face and hadn’t wanted to wait until they could find a cab. Judging by the way he sat slumped over in his seat, arm tightly pressed against his side, it had been the right decision.

“You watch too many cop movies,” Leo muttered. “We don’t actually do that.”

“Whatever.” Nick shut up and drove, watching the street in front of him. The owner of the car hadn’t shifted their tires yet and it was difficult to keep it steady on the snowy street. “Anyone with a car like this has to have some pretty good insurance. And it’s not like we intend to keep it, so ‘stealing’ doesn’t exactly apply here. ‘Borrowing’ maybe.”

Leo leaned his head against the window. “You keep telling yourself that,” he mumbled, clearly unhappy with the situation in general. 

Nick glanced over, filled with a sudden urge to comfort him. None of this could be easy on Leo. Nick was used to this life, but to Leo it was new and unfamiliar. Without quite knowing why, he reached out an arm and gently squeezed Leo’s shoulder. “We’ll be there soon,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

Leo sighed, but there was a hint of gratitude in his look. “Where are we going anyway?” he asked, shifting a little in his seat and grunting softly when the movement jarred his injury.

“Sit still,” Nick said. “We’re going to see a friend of mine. She’s a doctor and she’ll help us.”

At least he hoped so. He hadn’t had time to call ahead yet. Maybe it would be best not to. He didn’t really expect Chrissie to turn them away, but he didn’t want to give her the chance to refuse either. He had no idea where to go otherwise.

“You seem to have a lot of friends,” Leo said suddenly, out of nowhere. “I had you pegged as a loner at first, but it looks like I was wrong.”

Nick frowned. “Should you really be talking so much with that hole in your gut?” he asked, trying to change the subject. It wasn’t something he particularly wanted to talk about right now.

Leo dutifully shut up, but he kept watching Nick with eyes that were growing progressively more glassy with blood loss and exhaustion. He had to be worried sick about his family and was probably just talking to try to keep his mind off them. Nick couldn’t say that he wasn’t a little bit worried himself. It always got complicated when families were involved, that was why he usually tried so hard not to get attached to people. He couldn’t help wondering exactly how much Fabian knew about Leo. He’d said he was looking for an army and Nick couldn’t stop thinking about where Leo’s abilities had come from.

Where his niece’s abilities had come from.

Nick shook his head to himself, trying to clear it of the cobwebs. He was getting tired. Too many nights with too little sleep, and he was still feeling the lingering remains of the migraine attack. Add to that a puzzle with too many pieces that wouldn’t fit together, and he was well on his way to another headache.

He pulled up in the back street behind Chrissie and Don’s home, just in case someone was watching it. He didn’t find it likely, had tried to keep his contact with them to a minimum just to avoid making a target out of them, but Fabian probably knew anyway.

The house was a low one-storey building built in a bungalow style. The garden was sparse, a few trees and decorative bushes, but not much else. There was a wooden deck attached to the back of the house, and there was also a wide patio door. It was all covered in snow, no footsteps marring the white surface. It didn’t look like the back entrance was used much this time of year. 

Nick helped Leo get out of the car and had to support some of his weight as they made their way over the lawn. There were no streetlights lighting it up, but as they approached the deck, they must have activated a motion sensor of some sort, because a bright light hit Nick in the face and he had to blink several times to clear his vision, stumbling onto the deck almost blind. 

Chrissie must’ve noticed the light going on because she was already on her way to the patio door by the time Nick had reached it and started pounding on it. He could see her through the glass pane, a tall, slender woman, still wearing her day clothes of jeans and a plaid flannel shirt. When she opened the door, the cold air made her shiver a little bit.

“Nick!” she exclaimed, voice tinged with both pleasure and a fair bit of concern. “What are you doing here so late?”

She reached out to wrap her arms around him, and he allowed himself to lean into the embrace a little bit. It was good to see her again.

“I could use some help,” he said when they broke apart. He motioned to Leo, who was leaning against the side of the house, clutching his side. “We ran into a little trouble and he got hurt.”

Chrissie frowned, unspoken questions written all over her face, but she stepped away from the door and bid them to come in. 

“Should I ask what kind of trouble?” she asked, as the two men made their way into the house. She pointed toward the kitchen. “Better come in here and sit down, I’ll go get the first aid kit.”

Nick helped Leo stagger into the kitchen and sit down on a chair at the table. He sank down on it gratefully and leaned over the table to rest his head on his crossed arms. His skin was getting a little clammy and he seemed to be bleeding again. Nick coaxed the jacket off him, careful not to jostle the wound too much. Leo still couldn’t hold back a sharp gasp of pain, even though he tried to bite down around it. 

“Who is she?” he asked, nodding his head in the direction where Chrissie had disappeared. 

Leo looked away. “A friend,” he said, suddenly not wanting to share their history. 

Chrissie returned to the kitchen, holding a first-aid kit the size of a small suitcase that she hefted onto the table. She pulled her mousy brown hair up into a ponytail and went to wash her hands under the tap before she came over to the table and opened the case.

“Hi,” she said to Leo. “I’m Chrissie. I’m guessing the gentleman here hasn’t said a word more than he absolutely needs to.”

“He does that a lot,” Leo agreed, glancing at Nick. “I’m Leo. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but I guess the circumstances could be a little better.”

“That they could.” Chrissie put on a pair of latex gloves from the kit and carefully lifted the edges of the torn shirt away from the wound. “Are you very attached to this sweatshirt?” she asked, peeking in. “If not, I’m just going to cut it off you.”

Leo gave her a shaky smile. “I think it’s pretty much ruined already,” he agreed. 

She picked up a pair of scissors and got to work. “You do realize I’m a neurosurgeon, right?” she asked Nick, who was hanging out in the corner, where he wouldn’t get in her way.

He ignored the gentle reprimand and turned towards the back of the house again. “I’m going to go get rid of the car,” he said. “Be back in a bit.”

Nick figured it was safe to leave Leo in Chrissie’s care, and he couldn’t leave the purloined car parked where it was. If someone found it there, it would lead them right to Chrissie and Don, the very thing Nick had hoped to avoid from the beginning. He drove the BMW a couple of blocks where he parked it behind a hedge. It was still visible, but not so noticeable. It took him close to half an hour to walk back to the house, and when he arrived, his coat was damp with snow.

Chrissie was just cleaning up in the kitchen when he stepped back into the house. Nick couldn’t see Leo anywhere and felt a sharp pang of worry flare up in his gut, but when she saw him enter the kitchen, she nodded back towards the front room. “He’s resting on the couch,” she said, without prompting. “Fell asleep pretty much the moment he sat down, poor thing. I think he was exhausted.”

“Yeah.” Nick pulled up a chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the table. There were a couple of gauze pads covered in blood still lying on the tabletop and Chrissie picked them up and threw them away in a biohazard bin in the corner. “It’s been a crazy couple of days.”

“You’re lucky I still keep a suture kit handy. Technically, I’m not allowed to do this sort of thing anymore.” She finished wiping down the table and put the first aid kit away. “Do I want to know what kind of trouble you’re in? Your friend seems like a good man.”

_In opposite to your other friends_ , went without saying.

Nick sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “He is,” he said. “I’m beginning to think he’s a little _too_ good.”

Chrissie sat down on the other side of the table. “Want to tell me how you came to take up with a cop?”

“He told you that?” Nick asked, both eyebrows raised in surprise. 

Chrissie smiled at him. “Honey, anyone could see that. Everything about him practically screams ‘cop’.” 

Nick buried his head in his arms and groaned. “Apparently not to me. Shit.”

“I take it this trouble of yours involve the law then?” She sighed. “Nick, what did you get yourself into?”

He opened one eye and glanced up at her. “It’s a long story. I don’t even know where to begin.”

“You look a little tired yourself. How are the headaches?”

Nick groaned again. Just talking about it made his temples start throbbing anew. “About the same they’ve always been,” he said, trying to avoid the question.

Chrissie leaned forward, a knowing look on her face. “You’re having one right now, don’t you? Nick...”

He held up a hand, interrupting her. “I’m fine, really. I had one last night but it’s gone now. More or less.” 

She got up, opened a cupboard, and took out a blister pack of pills. When she returned to the table, she put a glass of water and two small white pills down on the table in front of him. “Here. You’ve got to take better care of yourself, Nick. I still want to get you into an MRI, but...”

“Not really an option,” he finished the sentence for her with a little smile, but swallowed the pills and finished the water, not realizing quite how thirsty he’d been. Then he looked toward the front room. “Is he going to be okay?”

“It’s not serious,” Chrissie answered. “He’s lost some blood and he’s got bruises all over, but he told me he heals quickly. As long as he takes it easy for a while, he should be all right.” She paused, watching Nick. “I assume taking it easy isn’t an option either?”

“Probably not.” Nick sighed and rubbed his temples before he looked up again. “How’s Don?”

Chrissie smiled, a mix of fondness and weariness on her face, the same that always could be seen when she talked about her husband. “Sleeping right now. He’ll be glad to see you again.” Then she yawned. “Talking about sleep, I think it’s about time I hit the sack too. It’s getting late. I’ll make the bed in the guest room for you.”

She stood and walked out of the kitchen. Nick stayed there for a while, just sat at the table and breathed, trying to gather his thoughts. He knew he needed sleep too, needed _real_ sleep, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get any rest with things as they were. 

Eventually, he stood up and walked into the front room, stepping around the couch. Leo was sprawled out on it, fast asleep. He was wearing a faded old t-shirt that must have belonged to Don. It stretched awkwardly over his broad shoulders. His head was turned to the side and he was snoring faintly. His color seemed a little better at least, even if Nick could see a number of rapidly darkening bruises on his arms. He had to fight back the urge to peek under the shirt to see the damage. Chrissie knew what she was doing, he had no reason to doubt her reassurance that Leo would be okay. 

Nick thought he looked a little bit cold in the thin shirt. There was a blanket draped over the side of the couch so he used that to cover Leo up, hiding the bloodstains on his jeans from sight in the process. Then, he sank down into the overstuffed chair beside the couch. His limbs were heavy with exhaustion and once he’d planted his ass in the chair, it quickly became pretty clear that he wouldn’t make it out of it again. He sat there, listened to the sound of Leo’s breathing, and wondered how the hell he’d ended up in this situation.

The chair was extremely comfortable and he stretched out his legs, slinging one of them over the arm of the chair. Leaning his head against the soft cushion, he lay there and stared up into the ceiling until his eyes were sliding shut on their own.

Nick slept. He dreamt about Chicago, cast in darkness, with frightened shapes huddling in the shadows while a many-headed army marched up and down the streets. The sky was bright red and there was a visceral scent of smoke and blood in the air, the city transformed into a battlefield.

He dreamed he was standing in the middle of the street, right in front of the approaching army. When he turned around, he found a lone figure standing a few feet away. The man, for it had to be a man, was wearing an antique coat of armor, painted in a gleaming white. The pristine color was marred by bright red smears of blood and black streaks of soot. The white knight held a sword in one hand and a battered shield in the other, the shield bearing the emblem of a roaring lion. When he came closer and raised the visor of his helmet, Nick wasn’t surprised at all to see Leo’s face. His subconscious wasn’t very subtle, apparently.

The marching army had stopped. One shape melted out of the crowd and came walking towards them. As it came nearer, Nick recognized Fabian, covered in ice from top to toe. The glittering surface formed sharp spikes and ridges along his arms and legs. It looked like something ridiculous out of a comic book, and at the same time frightening and alluring, like living diamond. 

Fabian flashed that smooth, persuasive smile, and reached out a hand towards Nick, beckoning to take it. 

Nick turned to Leo, expecting him too to have his hand stretched out in a silent plea, because that was just the kind of thing that was supposed to happen in shitty symbolic dreams like this one. But Leo just stood there, with his stupid open earnest face, only gentle encouragement written on his features. 

“Okay, I get it, I get it,” he said out loud. “I’ve got to pick a side. Seriously, it’s not like I’m stupid or anything.”

He took a good long look at Fabian’s faceless army, tried to see if there was anyone there that he recognized, but couldn’t see any familiar faces. 

There was no one behind Leo, only a number of harassed, pathetic people hunkered down in his shadow, as if they were expecting him to protect them. 

He supposed it wasn’t even meant to be a hard choice. For a good person, it probably wouldn’t be, but from where Nick was standing, that huge army looked like a much safer bet than the ragged figure of a knight Leo was made out to be.

Then, he saw a thin shape out of the corner of his eye and turned around just in time to see a grey figure disappear around a corner. Nick started running, hoping to catch up, but soon got lost in narrow alleys and side-streets. 

He woke up, panting as if he’d been running for real. It was early in the morning and the chair that had seemed so comfortable before had managed to give Nick a tortuous crick in the neck.

Leo was still out for the count and snoring loudly, but he looked a lot better than he had earlier. It seemed like he’d told the truth about being a fast healer. That was good at least. They would need to get out of here as soon as possible. 

Nick got up and stretched out his aching back to get the worst kinks out of it. It seemed like the rest of the house was still asleep. He moved quietly through the room towards the bathroom where he washed his face and inspected the damage. It wasn’t too bad. He still looked drawn and weary, but he would be able to go and meet Fabian later without having to endure too many fake well-meaning questions.

He ought to give Fabian a call and try to figure out if he knew about what had happened in the warehouse district the day before. It was possible that it had been him behind everything, that all this was just some kind of twisted mind game. But Nick didn’t have much choice but to go to that meeting anyway. He had to find out what Dr Mathers was after. He should probably have a talk to Chrissie about that as well. 

When he came out of the bathroom, he saw that the light was on in Don’s room down the hall. It was still early, but it looked like Don was awake. Nick walked up and knocked on the open door.

Don turned his head on the pillow and a wide smile spread over his face. “Nick!” he said. “I didn’t know you were here. When did you arrive? Come on in.”

Chrissie had done a good job not making the bedroom look like a care facility, despite the huge hospital bed and the medical equipment. There were pictures on the walls and the room always had fresh flowers. A huge plasma screen stood within comfortable distance to the bed and there was a state-of-the-art sound system there as well. 

Nick stepped inside, taking a seat in the chair by the side of the bed. “Got here late last night, you were already asleep. Hi Don. How’re you doing?”

Don had somehow gained the ability to shrug with his eyebrows. “Can’t complain. I was thinking about starting to train for the Chicago Marathon next year.”

It was the same joke he’d told since the accident, and it still wasn’t funny, but Nick smiled anyway. “You tell me if you need a cheering section. I wouldn’t do that shit if you paid me.”

“Don’t tell me you stopped running?” Don chuckled a bit. “There was a time it was impossible to get you out of those trainers. Always did wonder what it was you were running from.”

Nick looked down, suddenly finding the floor very interesting. “Yeah, well. I was pretty stupid back then.”

“Are you any smarter now?” 

Nick looked up again, studying his old friend a little closer. Don had always been thin, but there was a little more grey in his curly black hair now. Chrissie kept his face meticulously clean shaven and he looked as healthy as could be expected, eyes bright and full of energy. He had his computer rigged up beside the bed, complete with the advanced voice recognition software that would let him use it. Nick had programmed most of that software himself once upon a time.

“Probably not,” he admitted. “There was never really any question about that, was there? But that’s enough about me. How have you been? Written any new books lately?”

“Got one coming out in a couple of months. I’ll send you a copy.” Don turned his head and gave Nick a penetrating look. “You’re avoiding the subject, kiddo. You know it’s only the body that’s broke down, my brain still works just fine.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry.” Nick sighed. “It’s a long story. You want me to get you anything before I tell you?”

Don gave him an impatient look. “Quit stalling. Come on and spit it out.”

Nick took a moment to gather his thoughts before he decided to just start at the beginning, the evening he’d met Leo at the Showroom, and continue with everything that had happened after that. It almost felt good to talk about it all and he knew he could trust Don with the knowledge. When he was done, he took a deep breath and licked his lips. His mouth was dry after all the talking. 

Don was quiet for a little while and then let out a low whistle. “You’re right, that was a long story.”

“Told you so.”

He motioned with his head towards the doorway. “So you’re telling me there’s an injured police officer sleeping on my couch?”

“For the moment, yeah. I’ll get him out of your hair as soon as I can.”

“Not until he’s come in here to say hello. I want to meet this cop of yours.”

Nick ducked his head and tried not to blush. “He’s not _mine_.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

Nick couldn’t deny that Don had a point. Over the past few days, he’d gotten far more attached to Leo than he’d planned on. It was stupid and risky, but the more he thought about it, the more did he want to stay in touch with the man after this whole messed up thing was over.

“I guess he’s not so bad,” he admitted. “A little naive maybe. But he’s a good guy.”

Don’s face grew serious. “You know, Chrissie and me, we’ve kept waiting for you to meet someone who deserves you. I know you had some stupid ass reasons for taking up with that bucket of slime who calls himself Fabian Frost, and you know what I think about those reasons.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” Nick protested.

Don frowned. “Bullshit. You felt responsible, I get that, but none of it was your fault. Chrissie was just as much to blame as you were for what happened.”

“She lost her job because of me. She lost her licence, Don. I owed her for that.”

“And what did you lose, huh?” Don raised an eyebrow. “Chrissie is a grown woman, she can make her own decisions. It’s not like anyone held a gun to her head and forced her to go through with that stupid experiment. Neither of you knew what was going to happen.”

“We should have known,” Nick said. It was an ages old argument and they had had it over and over, but it still wasn’t resolved.

Don shook his head. “Trust me, Nick, if I could have, I would’ve kicked your ass seven ways to sunday when I found out. Whatever you think, you didn’t owe either of us anything. Not that we’re not grateful for what you did, but we would’ve gotten by, even back then.”

Nick gave him a long, steady look. “You would’ve lost everything, Don. It was the least I could do. It’s not a big deal.” He swallowed, thinking back to those days, when he was still trying to get used to his new ability and finding ways to learn how to live with it. Everything had been impossibly loud back then and the headaches had been almost constant. Worst of all, he’d felt so incredibly guilty about being the reason Chrissie had lost her job and her medical license. Don had not found a publisher willing to publish his crime stories yet, and the couple had been struggling, financially and emotionally. 

There had been no way for Nick to change what had happened, but he had at least been able to make sure they would be able to keep their lives and their home. 

He drew a deep breath and looked up at Don. “Can we keep arguing about his some other time?”

Don nodded. “Let’s postpone. But I’m not going to give up until you admit I’m right.” There were steps in the hallway and Don looked toward the door where his wife had just turned up. “Morning, sweetheart.”

“Good morning,” Chrissie said, smiling at them both. “I was just going to tell you we have guests, but it looks like you already found out. I’m making breakfast, do you want to get up?”

“Absolutely,” Don nodded. “I want to meet this cop who managed to get Nick Vargas’ attention. He’s got to be something.” He winked at Nick, before he continued. “Nick can give me a hand up, can’t you?”

Nick agreed, fetching the motorized wheelchair that stood against a wall. It took them a while to get Don out of bed and into the chair, and when they were done and entered the kitchen, Leo was already up, sitting at the kitchen table and shovelling enormous amounts of eggs and bacon into his mouth. He looked a little tired still and moved slowly, like his muscles were stiff and sore, but he seemed to be more or less recovered.

“Good morning,” he said when Nick and Don came into the kitchen. Don maneuvered his chair into the cleared spot at the table and waited for Chrissie to bring his breakfast.

Don nodded back. “Morning,” he said. “You’re Leo, I take it? I’d shake your hand, but as you can see, that would be a little difficult.”

Nick almost held his breath, waiting to see how Leo would react, but Leo only put his knife and fork down and smiled politely. “Of course, sir. I’m very grateful for the hospitality.”

Don chuckled. “Don’t call me ‘sir’, it makes me feel like I’m a hundred years old. So you’re the one who’s trying to turn Nick here into an honest man?”

Nick buried his head in his hands, groaning loudly, while Leo blushed a bright red, stuttering something inaudible.

“Behave, darling,” Chrissie said, putting another plate of eggs down in front of Nick before she brought breakfast for herself and Don and sat down next to her husband to help him eat.

Don gave her a broad grin. “Can’t I have a little bit of fun, at least?” he asked, a bright twinkle in his eyes.

Nick glared at him. “I hate you, man. I seriously do. See if I ever come to visit again.”

Leo laughed at that and then picked up his fork again and continued to eat like he hadn’t seen food in a week. Nick watched him, fascinated against his will. He’d never seen anyone put away that amount of food before; not even Alyssa who had an appetite that could rival a star athlete’s. After a while, Leo must have noticed that he was being watched, because he put his cutlery down again and scratched his neck a little self-consciously. “What?” he said, defensively. “I eat a lot. Especially when...” he trailed off, gesturing to his injured side.

Nick reached for the thermos of coffee that was standing within easy reach on the table. “I wasn’t saying anything,” he said, pouring himself a cup. 

“It’s not surprising at all, really,” Chrissie interrupted. She was alternating between eating her own breakfast and feeding Don bites of his. “Your wound already looks a lot better. Healing takes a great deal of energy. I’d actually recommend you eat as much as you can until you’re well again.” She gave Nick a meaning glance. “And eating something won’t hurt you either, stick man. I might not be much of a cook, but I’m not going to poison you. There’s toast on in the bread box if you want it.”

Nick managed to eat almost all the eggs on his plate and then nibbled on a piece of toast while he drank his coffee. Leo had seconds before he seemed to have had enough. 

“I’m going to have to contact Sabrina,” he said when he was done and pushed his plate away. “I promised to keep her in the loop.” Nick must have let his suspicion show, because Leo glared at him. “Look, I won’t pretend there aren’t bent cops on the force, but I can personally guarantee Sabrina’s not one of them. My phone’s still busted, by the way.”

Nick dug into his pocket and took out his own phone, tossing it over to Leo. “Don’t tell her where we are,” he said. “I don’t want Chrissie and Don dragged into this, not anymore than they already are.”

He nodded and got up from the table, leaving the kitchen to make his call. Nick was pretty sure he was going to call his sister as well. 

While Leo was gone, Nick decided to take the chance to do a little digging. “Chris, do you remember a man by the name of Dr Elroy Mathers?” he asked. “Hardcore transhumanist, lost a position at Harvard seven years ago?”

Chrissie furrowed her brow in thought. “Nanotech, wasn’t it?” she said. “We used some of it in the implant. Why are you asking?”

“He’s involved in all this.” Nick took a deep breath and told Chrissie about what had been discussed at the dinner meeting at the Everest. “Did any of them try to contact you?” he asked when he was done. 

Chrissie quickly shook her head. “No, no-one has talked to me about that in years. I haven’t been in contact with anyone.”

Nick studied her, searching for any sign of deception in her expression or voice, but couldn’t find any. With his next thought, he wondered why he was doubting her. It wasn’t like she had ever lied to him before. He was probably getting more paranoid than he thought. “All right,” he said slowly. “If anyone does, will you give me a call? We really need to figure out what they’re up to exactly.”

“Of course.” Chrissie gave her a very serious look and reached over the table to grab his hand. “Promise me you’ll be careful, Nick. I don’t like it at all. Do you really have to do this?” She glanced towards the front room where Leo was still talking on the phone. “I’m sure he means well, but does he really understand what it is he’s asking you to do? What kind of risks he’s asking you to take?”

“If he didn’t before, I’m pretty sure he does now,” Nick said quietly. “He’s taking a risk too. He’s got a family. Sister and a little niece. Fabian might be coming after them if Leo’s not careful.”

He still couldn’t deny that Chrissie had a point. If he was smart, he should just walk away right now, go as far away as he could possibly get and never look back. But just the thought of Fabian and Dr Mathers getting their hands on the implant technology made him feel sick inside. 

“We were trying to create something good,” he said, tapping his temple with a forefinger. “They want to take it and twist it into something it was never meant to be. _Someone_ has to do something about it. If I don’t, who else will?”

Don cleared his throat. “It sounds like you’ve decided to make it personal,” he said, raising a questioning eyebrow. 

Nick shook his head. “I didn’t make it personal. Fabian did.”

Leo walked back into the kitchen, interrupting the conversation. He handed Nick his phone back. “Sorry it took me so long, had to call Linda too,” he said. “Listen, Sabrina wants to meet me and I need to hand the drive over to her as soon as possible. I’m not going to the precinct; we’re meeting somewhere else. You think it’s safe?” He turned to Nick, seemingly genuine about asking for his opinion.

Nick took a moment to think over the situation. “If she really is as trustworthy as you think she is, sure,” he said finally. “I can’t come with you though. I need to get back home and get ready to go meet up with Fabian. He’ll get suspicious if I don’t show up.”

Leo looked like he didn’t like the thought, but he didn’t say anything and checked his watch instead. “We should probably get going then. Should we call a cab? Damn, I need to call my insurance company about the car. I wonder if my policy will cover this?”

The taxi arrived fifteen minutes later. Nick and Leo had already said their goodbyes and walked a little way down the street, so no one would see them step into a car outside Chrissie and Don’s home.

“They seem nice,” Leo said later when they were sitting in the backseat of the car. “Chrissie told me what you did for them, by the way. That cleared up a whole bunch of questions I’ve been having about you.”

Nick looked out of the window and sighed deeply. That was none of Leo’s business and he wished Chrissie could have just kept it to herself. He didn’t like thinking about it, even less talking about it, and now it looked like talk was just what Leo wanted to do.

“You did say you went to Frost for the money,” Leo continued, seemingly unaware of Nick’s unwillingness to talk about the subject. “You didn’t say what you needed the money for.”

“Would it have made a difference?” Nick asked, trying for levity even though he felt none. The whole thing made him feel dirty and ashamed. “It doesn’t make me any less of a criminal.”

“It changes your motives,” Leo said. He gave Nick a sideways look, a little frown on his face. “What I don’t get is why you stayed. After everything I’ve seen of you so far, I’m having some trouble putting you together with that guy who used to clean up Fabian Frosts dirty laundry. I understand why you started doing it, I just don’t understand why you _stayed_. Did you really love the guy that much?”

Nick felt like bashing his head into the glass window a few times just to get away from the conversation, but he had a feeling that the cab driver might have objections. “I didn’t,” he said. “Fabian doesn’t do love.” He sighed and turned away, not able to watch Leo’s puzzled face. “It’s difficult to explain,” he said. “It’s like asking a battered wife why she stays with her abusive husband but... no, that’s a bad comparison. It wasn’t like that, he never hurt me, not... physically.” 

When he gave Leo a quick glance, he could see the anger on the other man’s face and immediately regretted his words. Leo was going to misunderstand, he just knew it. Just talking about this ugly business left a bad taste in his mouth, brought back the memory of all those years when Nick hadn’t been able to meet his own eyes in the mirror.

“But he hurt you in... other ways?” Leo asked carefully. Nick swallowed around the indignant protest. This was exactly what he hadn’t wanted, for Leo to see him as some kind of traumatized victim. 

“He didn’t do anything to me that I didn’t ask for,” Nick said, with a little more force than he’d planned. At Leo’s startled look, he backtracked, tried to find a way to explain that wouldn’t make him sound completely pathetic. “You don’t know Fabian,” he said. “You’ve never met him. He’s like... some kind of drug, I guess. You _know_ he’s bad news, and you know that the only thing he really wants is to use you. You know that, going in, and you think that the knowledge alone will keep you safe, but you couldn’t be more wrong.” 

Nick leaned back and blinked his eyes a few times. They were burning and he tried to tell himself that it was because he was tired, and not because of some strange emotion that he couldn’t even put a name on. 

“I’ve heard that he’s charming,” Leo said softly, like he was talking to a spooked animal. Nick made a face, suddenly overcome by a heavy exhaustion.

“Lots of people are charming,” Nick shot back. “ _You’re_ charming. I can be charming if I want to. What Fabian has... that’s not charm. It’s like he can mesmerize people just by existing, like he puts a spell on you. You can’t spend any length of time in his company without knowing exactly who he is, _what_ he is, but you just don’t care, not as long as he’s willing to give you his attention.”

“You make him sound like some kind of sorcerer.”

Nick sighed, thinking back on all the evenings he’d spent in Fabian’s company. “Maybe he is,” he muttered, and then forcefully shook himself out of his brooding state. “Or maybe it was just me who was weak.”

Leo solemnly shook his head. “No. No, you’re not. You walked away, didn’t you?”

Nick couldn’t hold back a bitter laugh. “Sure I did. About five years too late.” He leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees while he studied the dirty foot well of the cab. “I’m not making any excuses,” he said firmly. “I’m not going to be one of those people who try to blame their mistakes on someone else. I knew what I did was wrong and I did it anyway, it’s as simple as that.”

There was a long moment of silence from Leo. Nick wondered what he was thinking, if he’d just lost every shred of respect he’d ever had for Nick. Assuming he’d had any to begin with. 

“What I don’t get is why you’re agreeing to do this,” Leo said eventually. “After everything you just told me, I’d expect you to want to stay as far away from him as possible. What’s changed?”

Nick turned his head, took in Leo’s face, his tousled hair, the already scabbed over graze on his cheek, the lingering stains on his jacket where Chrissie hadn’t quite managed to get all the blood out, those incredibly blue eyes. 

_You_ , he thought. _You are what’s changed._

He didn’t say it out loud. Instead, he drew a deep breath and asked, “If you were in my shoes, what would you do?”

Leo frowned. “I’d take the bastard down,” he said. “But I’m... I’m _me_. That’s my job, it’s what I’m supposed to do. You’re...”

“A criminal?” Nick shook his head, chuckling a little bit. “Despite what you may think, I still know the difference between right and wrong. And really, the only reason I’m doing this is because Fabian dragged me back in when he decided to explore the opportunities my implant might give him. I’ve dirtied my name enough all on my own, I don’t need him to put it all over that project as well.”

Leo was still giving him those scrunched up eyebrows, and Nick just couldn't take looking at him anymore. He turned his head back to the window to look out at the street again. They were getting close to his own neighborhood and Nick started keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't impossible that Frank and Lonnie were still out there looking for them. And he still had to ask Fabian about that. There was far too much to do and too little time. Everything felt rushed and if there was something Nick didn't like, it was a badly done rush job.

He didn't have much choice though. The cab driver pulled up to the curb outside his building and Leo insisted on paying for the ride, wincing a little as he had to twist around to get to the wallet in the back pocket of his jeans. Nick waited on the street in front of the doors to the apartment building, feeling like he had a target painted on his back. For a moment, he thought that Leo was going to take off immediately, but when the taxi had left, he turned around and followed Nick into the building and up the stairs. He hadn't said anything at all for the rest of the cab ride and Nick wished he knew what Leo was thinking, what kind of plan he had for the rest of the day.

It was past noon and Nick had to shower and change into clean clothes before he went to visit Fabian. It wouldn't do to come there and look like he'd slept in his clothes, even if it was the truth.

The apartment was dark and empty and the security system chirped a cheerful 'all clear'. Nick stepped inside and threw his keys on the dresser in the hall. Then, he turned around and held out his hand to Leo. "Give me your phone," he said.

Leo raised an eyebrow quizzically, but complied. "Okay, but it's still broken," he said. "I don't know if it can be fixed."

"Nope, it's pretty dead, I'm afraid," Nick said, checking it again, just in case, and coming to the same conclusion as before. He opened up the phone and took out the SIM card, and then pulled out the junk drawer he kept in the hall dresser, rooting through the small collection of old cell phones he kept in there. He'd been meaning to move them downstairs to the workshop, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. 

He picked out an old durable Nokia that had still worked fine the last time he checked it, put Leo's SIM card into it, and plugged the charger into the wall. 

"There," he said. "Give it an hour or so and you'll be good to go. I'll try to do the same thing I did in the restaurant, but I can't guarantee I'll be able to get away with the same trick twice."

Leo scrunched up his eyebrows again in an unhappy little face. "So you're still going?" he asked. 

Nick rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course I'm still going. Do you have a better idea? It's not like I can sit around here and expect all the answers to fall into my lap."

He took off his coat and shoes and opened the door to the closet, starting to pick out clean clothes. Nothing as flashy as what he'd worn to the restaurant on Friday night, but a sober business outfit instead, just so Fabian wouldn’t get the wrong idea. 

"No," Leo said suddenly from the hallway outside. "No, I've changed my mind. I don't want you to go. It's too dangerous, not worth the risk."

Nick popped his head out of the closet. "Are you kidding me? How else are we going to find out what Fabian and Mathers are up to?"

Leo crossed his arms over his chest, a little self consciously. "And what if they're onto us?" he asked. "What if those two morons from the alley went right back to Frost and told him everything?"

"I'm pretty sure they didn't." Nick took the clothes he'd picked out and put them in the bathroom and went into the bedroom for clean socks and underwear. "Besides," he said when he came back. "If he does know, against all odds, I'll find a way to talk myself out of it. I'm good at that."

He made a move to go into the bathroom, starting to unbutton the first buttons of his shirt as he went. 

Leo lunged for him and gripped his wrist, holding him back. "Wait. Can we at least discuss this?"

"What's there to discuss?" 

Nick turned. Leo hadn't let him go and his hand was huge and strong and very warm against his skin. The hallway was beginning to feel small and crowded. If Nick took just a few steps backwards, he was going to find himself backed up against the wall.

Leo stepped up closer, still not letting go of Nick's wrist. "What's there to discuss?" he repeated. "How about everything? This was a bad idea from the beginning and I don't think you... that we should go through with it."

Nick suddenly felt that familiar, thrilling rush run through him. He made a half-hearted attempt to get out of Leo's grip, not because he really wanted to, but mostly because he wanted to at least pretend to put up a fight.

"Well," he said, raising his chin defiantly. "I'm doing it. Are you going to try to stop me?"

That must've been the right thing to say. Leo took two big steps forward, the momentum forcing Nick to follow him until he had his back pressed up against the wall. His skin felt hot and tight and hungry for Leo's touch. 

"Damn it, Nick," Leo growled, their faces only a few inches apart now. "You're driving me absolutely crazy, d'you know that?" 

Nick grinned, already breathing a little hard. "You going to do anything about it?" he challenged. 

Leo stared at him with those incredibly blue eyes for a few long breaths. Nick felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room, like there was some strange kind of electricity sparking between them. 

Then, Leo pounced on him, coming in for a rough, almost violent kiss, plundering Nick's mouth with a vigour that had not been present the last time they had done this. Nick could do little else but open up and just enjoy it, enjoy the way their bodies moved against each other, the hot dance of their tongues together. 

Leo was still holding his wrist, pressed against the wall now, and Nick wasn't even trying to get loose. He'd been imagining this before, being held down and taken by Leo, and it was every bit as arousing as it had been in his fantasies.

He tangled his free hand in Leo's hair to pull him closer and felt Leo respond against him. Nick was rock hard already, adrenaline and excitement battling for attention in his body. 

This was probably a mistake. It had been a bad idea the first time, and it was a bad idea now, but if Nick was going to go risk his life for the good cause, he thought he deserved to have this first. 

Leo grabbed at his shirt, ripping it open so buttons were flying everywhere, moved from Nick's mouth to start nipping at his jawline and his throat, more than just a hint of teeth this time. Nick gasped and arched against him, showing him exactly how much he was enjoying himself. He could feel Leo's huge erection against his leg and slid a little to the side so they could rub up against each other. If they went on like this for much longer, he was going to come in his pants, right here in the hallway. 

His hand was being held over his head now and Leo was kissing his way down Nick's chest, stopping to lick and suck at his nipples. Nick groaned loudly, the sound of his voice echoing between the walls. He just couldn't wait any longer. 

Nick let his hand slide down Leo's neck and back, mindful of the bruises there, and deftly opened his belt buckle one-handed. He slid his fingers underneath Leo's shirt, let them skim over the bandage that was taped over the stitches in his side. Nick pressed gently and was rewarded by a moan that was half pain and half pleasure.

A strong scent of sweat and sex and a little hint of blood was filling the hallway. Leo got to Nick's fly, got it open and reached inside to pull him out of his boxers. As Leo's hand closed around him, Nick couldn't hold back a hissed out, "Yes!"

Leo looked up, his eyes dark and wicked, almost dangerous. No, definitely dangerous. 

"Like that, do you?" Leo panted against his neck.

Nick liked it a lot. He responded by pushing up into Leo’s fist, shivering in pleasure at the feel of Leo's callused palm against the sensitive skin of his cock. Small tingles were shooting up and down his spine and all he could do was pull Leo down for another forceful kiss. 

He got his hands inside Leo's jeans, around his hot length, and Leo groaned into his mouth, setting up a rhythm that matched his own hand on Nick. 

There was no way this was going to last. Nick bucked his hips, tried to get free of the constricting material of his pants, and ended up with them pulled down around his knees. He spread his legs as wide as he could, but it felt like it wasn't enough. 

Then, Leo turned him around, so he was facing the wall, his chest and face pressed up against the paint, his hand still trapped over his head. Leo had let go of his cock and Nick let out a half-incoherent sound of protest, quickly silenced when Leo pushed up against his ass, rubbing his hard dick against the naked skin. Nick pushed back. All of a sudden, he was hit by the image of Leo fucking him just like this, hard up against the wall, and the thought made his cock twitch and start to leak a little. 

Leo was sucking on his neck and Nick turned his head, finding his lips again, while he used his free hand to grab Leo's and guide it back to where he wanted it, stroking his cock. 

Leo shifted a little until his own cock was sliding wetly in the crack of Nick's ass and he pushed back into the smooth glide, gasping and moaning every time the blunt head of Leo's cock dragged over his asshole.

He wanted to feel Leo inside him, wanted to turn around and see his face, wanted to come spurting all over Leo's fingers, and he wanted all of it at once, lost in a dizzying swirl of lust and arousal. 

The buttons of Leo's jeans were digging into the soft flesh of his ass. There were going to be marks later and Nick didn't mind, wanted the proof of their passion visible on his skin. 

Leo was breathing heavily in his ear, muttering something Nick couldn’t quite make out. He was making noises of his own, driven from him by the intoxicating feeling of Leo’s hand jerking him off. It was impossible to hold on. Everything came together all at once and Nick pressed his face against the wall, squeezed his eyes shut, and came so hard he was shaking with it. Leo kept stroking his cock, up until the point where he was getting so sensitive that the touch was bordering on painful, but Nick still didn’t want him to stop.

He did stop eventually, moving slippery fingers to hold Nick’s hip in a hard grip while he kept rutting against his ass, his movements growing less controlled for every stroke. Nick urged him on, wanting to feel Leo come, while at the same time wanting to drag it out, not ready to let go of the feeling of Leo’s hard, heavy body pressed up against his back, holding him in place against the wall. 

It didn’t last though, couldn’t last. Leo came in hot spurts over his ass and back, pressing his face into Nick’s shoulder and holding on to him so hard that there were going to be dark bruises all over his hip and wrist. 

They stilled together, gasping for breath. Leo was shuddering through the aftershocks against Nick’s back, the hard grip on his wrist loosening until Nick could slip his hand free and turn around to slide it up Leo’s neck and into his hair, pulling him in for one last kiss.

This time, it was less urgent, softer and more gentle, full of wordless emotion that Nick didn’t quite want to think of. He was still half dressed and Leo had all his clothes on, only his pants were open. When he moved, there was a small wince on his face, like the hurts that had been forgotten suddenly came back all at once. Nick carefully pulled Leo’s borrowed t-shit up to check on the injury to his side. Leo grunted a little when he ran his fingers over the sore area, but there was no fresh blood on the dressing.

“Sorry,” Leo breathed, letting his head fall heavily on Nick’s shoulder. “I don’t know what...” he trailed off.

Nick let his fingers slide over his back, caressing his neck and jaw. “No apologizing,” he said softly, pressing his lips to Leo’s one last time before he pushed him away to pull his pants up. He could feel Leo’s come, drying stickily on his skin, and suddenly didn’t want to get in the shower to wash it off. He wanted to go to bed for a second round, wanted to forget everything about Fabian Frost and the creepy Dr Mathers.

But that wasn’t an option. He rested one hand on Leo’s arm for a moment. “I’ll be all right,” he said in a low voice, not sure if it had been reassurance Leo had been after or something else.

Then, he walked into the bathroom, closed the door and locked it behind him, and slumped back against the door, running his hands through his hair and feeling everything spin even further out of his control.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The Frost Spire had been built as a means to brag. It was a huge modern building, designed in glass and steel, and the only purpose of it was to scream out to everyone who had eyes that the owner had enormous amounts of money. The first time Nick had walked through the doors, he’d been reluctantly impressed. Now, he found it soulless and ridiculously exaggerated, just one more aspect of Fabian’s personality. 

Nick walked into the lobby, making sure that the protective imaginary bubble was placed firmly around his mind. He hadn’t seen Gina yet, but he had no doubts that she was hanging around, and he didn’t want to risk her gleaning something she didn’t ought to know.

Like what he’d just been doing. He’d had to discard the white shirt he’d picked earlier in favour of a turtleneck that hid the love bites on his neck, and he could feel the bruises that had already formed on his hip, the darkening little marks that Leo’s fingers had left on his skin.

Leo had been gone when Nick had come out of the shower. No note, no text messages. He’d thought about calling, but decided against it. He was pretty sure Leo thought it had been a mistake too. 

It still didn’t change the fact that it had been _good_ ; much better than the first time. It still didn’t change the fact that Nick wanted to do it again, preferably soon. 

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of all thoughts concerning Leo. If he couldn’t focus on the here and now, there was a big chance he wouldn’t make it out the building alive. 

Nick was more or less certain that the girl behind the reception desk was armed. So were the two security guards who flanked the front door. They made him pass through a metal detector before he was allowed to enter the building, and he spared a thought of gratitude to the fact that his implant was made out of a plastic polymer and contained no metal. It would be difficult to explain to airport security otherwise. 

One of the guards took his cellphone and refused to return it. Nick considered arguing the point, but decided that it would probably seem suspicious. He let the guard keep it, but made sure to lock it down and protect it with so many passwords that no one could get into it no matter how hard they tried, and even programmed it to self-destruct in case someone tried to tamper with it. 

The other guard insisted on riding with him in the elevator. A number of alarms surfaced in the back of Nick’s mind. He was pretty sure something was wrong, and he’d just given away his only way of contacting Leo. He’d have to find another line to the outside world. 

It was a fast elevator and the change in pressure made Nick’s ears pop on the way up. The Spire contained offices and a research division, plus Fabian’s luxury penthouse on the upper floors. He wondered where he was being taken, and soon got his answer when the elevator came to a stop on the 13:th floor, one of the laboratory areas. 

A plain-looking woman in a white lab coat, brandishing a clipboard like a shield in front of her, met them at the elevator and the burly guard transferred Nickin to her care. He was beginning to wonder what the hell was going on here. Security had never been quite this strict before. 

Nick watched the woman slide a keycard through the reader beside the door, scan a fingerprint, and then punch in a code. He frowned, noticing that Fabian had upgraded the security system since he’d left too. Nothing that he wouldn’t be able to crack, given a little time, but still, it was worrying. There was obviously _something_ in here that Fabian didn’t want people to see. That mean that Nick wanted to see it very much.

He was shown through the door and a long corridor with steel-lined walls. There were a number of doors, each one tagged with a number. People were walking around, also wearing lab coats. None of them seemed to want to meet Nick’s eyes. 

The woman led him into a large laboratory where a bunch of lab techs were milling around. Nick snuck a peek at the computer screens while he was walking past. He couldn't get anything useful out of the few glances he managed to get. It had something to do with nanotechnology, but that was pretty much all he could deduce from a distance.

At the far end of the lab, Fabian and Dr Mathers were standing together, watching something on a large screen on the wall. To Nick, it looked like the digital representation of a whole lot of tiny robots. The numbers scrolling down on the side of the screen looked somewhat familiar. 

The woman in the lab coat skittered away just as Fabian turned around. The wide smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes, and Nick suppressed the urge to swallow around the sudden lump of fear that had formed in his throat.

For a split moment, he was almost certain that Fabian knew everything. He frantically threw his mind into the computer system to try to reach the world outside the Spire, but there was no internet access in this room, no way to send off even a small e-mail. He could widen his range, follow the network out into the building to a computer that wasn't blocked from the net, but that would require more effort and concentration than Nick could spare at the moment, not to mention make it obvious to Fabian what he was trying to do.

He put on his very best smile instead, the coy little grin Fabian had always liked, and sauntered over to the two men in front of the screen. Dr Mathers gave him a short nod, looking more or less disinterested. No, not disinterested. The good doctor's eyes kept straying to Nick's temple where the implant was sitting under skin and bone. Like Nick wasn't even a human being in the doctor's eyes, only a walking, talking means for him to reach his end goal. 

Fabian reached out a hand in greeting, and when Nick took it, he was pulled into an embrace. He did his best to keep his reactions in check, tried not to tense up or let any sign of distaste flicker over his face. Fabian would notice. He always noticed little things like that, and Nick needed him to think that everything was fine. Still, it was difficult not to compare this uncomfortable touch to how perfectly natural it had felt to be in Leo's arms. 

He couldn't afford to think of Leo right now, not in any other way than strictly professional. Where had he gone anyway? Off to see Lieutenant Zheng? Probably. Nick wondered if they were ever going to see each other again, and suddenly regretted not kissing Leo one more time, not telling him about all these confusing, conflicting feelings. 

Fabian let him go but kept a hand on Nick's arm. He tried to relax, not to let on how much just that touch was affecting him.

"So very glad you could make it, Nicky," Fabian said, smiling. His eyes crinkled in that charming way that used to be attractive but now only put a bad taste in Nick's mouth.

"I'm still interested in your proposal." Nick smiled back, hoping it looked real. He'd learned how to wear masks, how to hide his thoughts and feelings, but the past thirteen months had made his skills rusty. Suddenly the whole thing was beginning to feel extremely stupid. Leo had been right, it was too risky, too dangerous. He wouldn't make it out of here in one piece. 

"You didn't spend the night at home," Fabian said congenially. 

Nick raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore the way his entire body had just turned icy cold. "Are you keeping tabs on me, Fabian?" he asked, trying for levity even when it took everything he had to keep his voice from shaking.

"But of course, pet." Fabian smiled like a shark. "You're important to the project. You're important to _me_ , Nicky. I just want to make sure nothing happens to you." He paused. "It seems like Officer Harding didn't come home last night either?" he said, phrasing the statement as a question.

So he _was_ watching Leo’s house. There was only one thing for Nick to do; lie through his teeth and hope that Fabian didn't call his bluff. 

"You have your people inside the Police department," he said. "I'm just trying to cultivate my own contacts. He seems to enjoy my company."

There was a flash of something in Fabian's eyes. Anger? Jealousy? But he did seem to be buying it. "Watch yourself, pet," he said softly, tightening his grip on Nick's hand a little bit. "They say this one is a fine upstanding officer of the law. I wouldn't put too much effort into turning him."

Nick shrugged carelessly. "He's just like everyone else; thinks with his dick. Don't worry about him, he's harmless." He dared to take a few steps to the side, slipping out of Fabian's grasp and walking over to stand in front of the large screen on the wall. "Did you ask me to come here to discuss Harding or are we going to talk business?"

Fabian's eyes narrowed, just for an instant. Then, his face went carefully blank again and he stepped over to stand beside Nick, turning to Dr Mathers, who had listened to the conversation without betraying any feelings whatsoever. 

"Doctor, would you mind explaining to Mr Vargas here what you just told me?"

"Certainly." The little doctor grabbed a remote control from a nearby table and aimed it for the screen. A schematic of a tiny robot filled the space on the wall. 

Nick took a few steps closer, studying the blueprints more closely. "Nanites," he said, turning to Dr Mathers. "Very impressive. You said before that you had already started testing it? I take it Frank Shane was the test subject? He seemed to be implying as much at the Everest."

He made a show of looking around the lab, taking in all the faces. "Where is Frank anyway?" he asked Fabian innocently. "I'd have expected him to be clinging to you like a wet dishrag just as usual."

There was a tiny little twitch at the edge of Fabian's mouth. You wouldn't have noticed it unless you knew him very well. That was a sure sign of displeasure, and it was not with Nick. Well, at least that was proof enough that Fabian didn't know yet what Frank and Lonnie had been up to yesterday. It was a small relief and Nick felt himself breathe out, just a little bit.

"Mr Shane is otherwise occupied," Fabian growled.

Nick smiled obnoxiously. "Pity," he said. "It's so much fun baiting him." He turned over to the plasma screen. "So, nanites." He pursed his lips. "What exactly can these little beauties do? I know they were meant for medical research from the beginning. Being programmed to cure specific ailments, isn't that right? So how did you manage to use them to give people abilities?"

Dr Mathers zapped the screen over to a schematic of a human brain, several parts of it highlighted. "I don't have to tell you how large a portion of our brains we actually use," he said, his dry little voice suddenly tinged with excitement. "By using nanites, we can activate parts of the brain that usually would go unutilized, tap into abilities that lie dormant with most people."

He walked up to the screen, tapping the picture with the end of the remote. "This, Mr Vargas, is what we are supposed to be," he said. There was a gleam in his eyes that Nick hadn't seen before, a burning obsession that seemed to be bursting through the grey unassuming shell of the man. "We need to find ways to reach our full potential, to surpass the fragility of humanity and become _more_."

Nick nodded slowly, not letting any of his thoughts show on his face. He'd heard that kind of talk before, read about the theories, even been part of the discussions. But all that had been theory. It had been dreams about the future, the kind of fantasies learned minds and visionaries liked making up. 

Dr Mathers really believed in it and he had taken the step from dreams to making it real. 

Was the world ready for something like this? Were ordinary people ready? Nick remembered waking up from his seven-week-long nap, feeling all that new information flood his brain. He'd had daily headaches for almost a year afterwards and learning to control the implant had been both difficult and painful. He still didn't know exactly what it could do and he was afraid to explore the limits. 

He'd wondered many times what would happen if he did. If it turned out he could use the implant for more than just a convenient bluetooth connected directly to his brain. What if it could do more than that? Where would the line be drawn? When would he cease to be Dominic Vargas and turn into something else?

One look at Dr Mathers told Nick that the doctor had never been burdened with thoughts like that. He was looking forward to the discovery.

"And where do I come in?" Nick asked, half afraid to hear the answer.

Dr Mathers gave him a thin, scalpel-like smile. "By combining this technology with the one in your head, we will be able to create human beings with more powerful abilities anyone could dream of. _Multiple_ abilities." He pulled a long line of statistics up on the screen. "With a few notable exceptions, most superpowered individuals only have one ability. Sometimes there are more, but they're always connected somehow. I want to create a completely new sort of human, a new race, if you'd like."

_A master race?_ Nick wanted to ask, but held his tongue. "You do realize that there's no way to get at the implant in my head, right?" he said. "You can't just take it out and reverse-engineer it, not without killing me or turning me into a vegetable."

Dr Mathers only gave him a strange little look and a little nod. It was a perfectly innocent gesture, but it still sent chills down Nick’s spine. 

"But you can get us all the information we need to build it from scratch," Fabian said, dropping a heavy hand on Nick's shoulder. "You know where the data was stored, you can easily get into those systems and get us everything we need."

Well, that much was true, Nick couldn't deny that. "I'd have to break into the neuroscientific department at the university," he said. "I mean actually, physically break in. All the files are on protected servers, I can't get into them from the outside."

Fabian nodded, a glimpse of excitement in his eyes. "Just say the word, I'll make sure you have everything you need," he said. "I the meantime, I'd like you to help Dr Mathers oversee the nanite project. We're still having a little bit of trouble making them do what they're supposed to do. Maybe you can help smooth out the wrinkles."

Nick couldn't do anything but agree. Dr Mathers walked him through the different levels of the project, explaining how far they had come. It seemed like Frank had been the only successful test subject. Nick didn't want to know what had happened to the others.

Fabian left halfway through the meeting to attend to business matters, or at least that was the explanation he gave. Nick didn't like being left alone with the creepy little doctor, but he took the opportunity to try to pump him of as much information as he could. He had no way of storing all this, or of getting any data out of the building, so he'd have to remember it all. 

Dr Mathers followed him out of the research area and escorted him back to the elevator. It seemed he'd had a reason for it, for halfway through the long corridor, he turned to Nick and asked, "Are you familiar with the Zarathustra Project, Mr Vargas?"

Nick thought about lying and saying he didn't know anything about it, but he was pretty sure Mathers would know. It was pretty much impossible to have moved in the circles he had back in school and not be aware of what the United States military had been trying to do in the seventies. 

"I am," he said. "I know the project was discontinued."

"Oh, not at all. Not completely." Dr Mathers gave him a secretive little look. "They would never let go of a goldmine like that. Unfortunately, it is too well protected for us to be able to use the current project. But there are still ways..."

He leaned a little closer. "Mr Vargas, are you aware that Officer Harding is a product of the original Zarathustra project? That his father was one of the first test subjects?"

Nick had to nod. "Yes, I know. Is that important?"

Mathers looked like he wanted to rub his hands together in glee. "Oh, yes, it is. Very important indeed." He paused, almost jumping a little up and down. "You see, Mr Vargas, our goal is not only to gain psychic abilities. It is an important part of our transition into a new kind of human, yes, but it is not all there is. No," he paused, leaning a little closer. "We also need to focus on the _physical_ side of our development. The Zarathustra project can help us with that."

Nick felt his entire body go cold. He'd hoped he'd be able to keep Leo out of all this, and so far it seemed like Fabian didn't have more than a cursory interest for the police officer. Now, it looked like Leo had more to fear from this gray, quiet little man. 

Did Mathers know about Leo's niece? Nick didn't want to ask and his fingers suddenly started to itch for his phone. He needed to talk to Leo right now. He needed to talk to Everett and make sure Leo's family was still safe. 

"I'm not sure he's going to want to be a part of this," Nick said, restraining himself so he wouldn't start walking faster toward the doors and the elevator.

"Oh, we don't need him to be a part of anything," Mathers said dismissively. "Just keep doing what you have been doing so far. Sooner or later we will get what we need from him." 

Nick swallowed hard, hoping that Mathers wasn't noticing just how uneasy the entire discussion had made him. What the hell did this man have on his mind? Did Fabian even know the entire span of his plans? 

And that made Nick remember Frank and Lonnie again. It seemed Fabian hadn't known about their little extracurricular activities either. Exactly how much control did Fabian have of his operation these days? From what Nick had seen so far, it couldn't have been as much as it had been thirteen months ago. 

Maybe he was losing his touch. That could be one way in. Nick hadn't been quite able to stop thinking about what Everett had told him, and what he had told Leo. Someone would have to step in to take Fabian's place. Maybe someone already had? 

He shook the thoughts away, smiled politely at Mathers and shook his hand, and then followed the waiting security guard down in the elevator.

When he got his cell phone back, he immediately found two things. First, that someone had tried to get into it, to no avail of course. The second was that there were several missed calls. Two of them were from Leo, and there were a few others from a number Nick didn’t recognize. 

He checked the number and found that it belonged to someone by the name of Linda Palmer. He didn’t know anyone by that name, but logic said that it had to be Leo’s sister. Right, Leo had used Nick’s phone to call her earlier. 

Why the hell was she calling back now? It could only mean bad news. 

Nick tried Leo’s number first and found the line busy. After that, he tried Ev’s number. The signals went through, rang and rang, until he reached Everett’s voice mail, where the recorded voice asked him to leave a message. Out of options, he tried to call Alyssa, only to get the same message. 

Something must have happened. 

Nick looked back towards the elevators, the security guards who gave him that blank look that made it impossible to tell what they were thinking. He checked his messages again, found a text message from Leo that only said ‘Where are you? Call!”

He tried Leo’s number again, got a busy tone for the second time. He was out in the street now and flagged down a cab the first thing he did. 

He slumped back against the back seat of the taxi and tried to breathe calmly, not quite sure what was going on. Where had Fabian disappeared off to? Where had Gina and Frank and Lonnie been? This was bad news. 

Nick sat up again staring at the phone in his hand. He was just about to try to call Leo again when the phone rang shrilly, an unknown number in the display. He picked up, put it on speaker and answered, “Yeah?”

First there was silence, then an unknown woman’s voice came through the line. “Where is my daughter, you bastard?”

He felt his stomach sink, nausea suddenly pushing up through his throat. “What? Who is this?”

There was some noise at the other end of the line. It sounded like someone was fighting the woman for the phone. Then, Leo’s voice came through, loud and clear. “Nick?”

Nick sat up straighter. “Leo? Where are you, what happened?”

There was silence, and then Leo talked again, slow and determined this time. “Can you come over to the Showroom? Hurry.”

Terror flashed through him, a cold icy feeling that started in the pit of his stomach and spread outwards, all through his body, until it had reached the tips of his fingers and made them start to tremble. 

Damn it, he'd known something was wrong.

"I'm on my way," he said and hung up the phone. He knocked on the glass between himself and the driver, gave him the address to the Showroom, and asked him to get there as soon as possible. 

There were police cars outside in the street when he got there. Uniformed officers were milling around outside and someone had put up police tape around the front door. 

Nick paid the cab driver and jumped out of the car, hurrying up to the nearest person on the other side of the tape. "What the hell happened here!" he asked, beginning to lift the tape so he could duck under it and get into the bar.

The police officer, a young woman with dark hair gathered in a tight ponytail at her neck, held him back. "Please stay back, sir." It was pretty clear she was not going to let him through so Nick dug in his pocket after his phone, intending to try to reach Leo again. 

He didn't even have time to dial the number before the front door opened and Lieutenant Zheng walked out. She was at least a head shorter than every other person on the site, but they all automatically stood aside to let her pass.

"It's all right, Ramirez, you can let him through," Zheng said, and the officer moved away and let Nick slip under the black and yellow tape.

"What's going on?" he asked as soon as he came up to her. "Where's Leo?"

She pursed her mouth, giving him a speculative look. "What can you tell me about Everett Barnes?" She opened the door and let Nick go through ahead of her. 

Nick swallowed. "Ev's a friend," he said. "Telekinetic, probably one of the strongest in the country. I asked him to help out and keep an eye on Leo's sister and niece. He was doing it for me as a favor. Now, what the hell _happened_ here?" 

The inside of the bar looked like a battlefield. Chairs and tables had been thrown around and the tall mirrors along one wall were broken, the floor strewn with countless glittering shards of reflective glass. There was a noticeable smell of alcohol in the air, so strong that it was almost dizzying. Several broken bottles were lying on and around the two bar counters and there were even more on the floor. The cash register Nick had fixed two days before was lying on its side on the floor. The drawer was open and coins and bills were spilling out of the till. 

There were people everywhere. Uniformed police officers, evidence technicians, one or two detectives in cheap suits. 

In the middle of the floor was a body, covered with a white sheet. Someone must have been taking crime scene photos because there were little yellow markers all over the place. 

Nick looked at Zheng again, meeting her long steady look with cold apprehension. "What happened?" he asked again. 

"We're not sure yet," she said. 

Nick walked over to the body, looking up at her with a question in his eyes. She only gave a short nod in response. 

He crouched down on the floor and lifted a corner of the sheet. It felt unreal, like someone else was inhabiting his body and he was just a distant observer.

Ev's unseeing eyes looked back at him from under the sheet. His skin was so pale that is was almost blue, his lips and the thin skin around his eyes a dark purple. Even from the short distance, Nick could feel the cold that came in waves from the body. His fingers were stiffening up and starting to burn, only from holding the sheet away. There was frost in Everett's eyelashes. 

Nick wanted to reach out and just close his eyes, but doubted it would be possible, even if the evidence technicians were to allow him to touch the body. 

He pulled the sheet up and collapsed back on his ass on the floor, covering his face with one hand. He felt sick, nausea rolling in his gut, and he knew he was never going to forget the sight of Ev's face, frozen in death, for as long as he lived.

"I guess I don't have to ask if you recognize the MO," Zheng said, coming up behind him. 

Nick felt like getting up and punching her for that insensitive remark, but when he looked up at her, there was compassion on her face. 

"Where's Alyssa?" he asked. "And Darla, she... they work here, they should have been here about now. Are they okay?"

"In the back," Zheng pointed. "Did you know this was going to happen?"

Nick shook his head. "No. If I had, I wouldn't have asked them to..." He formed his hand into a fist and punched the hard floor beside him. "It was just a precaution, damn it! This was not supposed to..." he looked up in sudden realization. "Leo's family?"

Before Zheng had time to answer, the kitchen door was flung open and a woman came storming out. Nick recognized her from the photo in Leo's wallet. Her strawberry-blond hair had been long in the picture, but was now in a short, practical cut. Tears of grief and fury were streaming down her face. 

The moment she came out, she had her sights set on Nick. "Was it you?" she asked, her feet hitting the floor in angry stomps. "Are you the one who got us dragged into this? Are you behind this? Where is my _daughter_ , you son of a bitch?" 

Nick started to get to his feet, to explain, but before he could find his balance, she pushed his shoulder and he ended up on his ass again. She was stronger than she looked.

He didn't have time to even try to defend himself, and he didn't even know if he _should_ try given the fact that she was probably pretty much right. Everything _was_ his fault. 

Then the kitchen door opened again, and Leo came through it this time, a solid wall of muscle, still in the borrowed t-shirt and blood stained denim jacket. 

"Linda!" he shouted. "Stop it, please, he's been trying to _help_!"

Nick scrambled to his feet while Leo lunged forward and wrapped his arms around the woman, his sister; it had to be. There was no mistaking the family resemblance in person. 

He was grateful for the rescue. Another second and she would probably have popped him in the mouth. 

The woman, Linda, turned around, buried her face in Leo's shoulder and started crying, her whole body shaking with sobs. Leo held her close, talking softly into her ear, words that Nick couldn't quite make out. His eyes were pretty red-rimmed too. Nick couldn't blame him. 

He decided to leave the two of them alone and headed for the kitchen door they had come barging out of. He needed to find out what had happened to Alyssa and Darla, and then he needed to find out what had happened, period. 

Lieutenant Zheng said something to Leo in a low voice and then followed Nick into the kitchen. 

The destruction of the rest of the bar hadn't reached the kitchen, Darla's little kingdom. It was still the same it had always been, clean and neat, every pot and pan in its place. Darla was standing beside the deep friers, her tail swishing angrily back and forth behind her back. Alyssa was sitting perched on a kitchen counter, a paramedic blanket wrapped around her shoulders, clutching a mug of coffee between her hands. She was shivering from cold, even though the kitchen was warm as usual. 

"Nick!" she cried when she caught sight of him. She put the mug down and jumped down from the counter, launching herself into his arms. He wrapped them around her and held her, filled with relief that she was alright, even though she had obviously had an encounter with Fabian.

"I'm going to kill him," he muttered into her hair. "I don't care who he thinks he is, I'm going to kill him for this."

Lieutenant Zheng cleared her throat and stepped into the kitchen. "I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that.”

Nick didn’t even spare her a look, still focused on making sure Alyssa was all right. “What happened?” he asked, leaning down to get a good look at her face. There were no injuries that he could see, no bruises, and apart from the way her teeth were still shattering a little, she seemed to be unhurt. 

Alyssa drew a deep breath, visibly composing herself. She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders and looked up at Nick, anger evident in her eyes now. 

“We never saw it coming,” she said. “Ev picked up Linda and Maggie after school and brought them here, we thought that would be safest. So we hung out here for a while and Linda helped out in the kitchen; she’s a chef, did you know that? She made this fantastic tzatziki...” 

Nick shook his head. He hadn’t known anything about Linda’s profession. 

Alyssa sniffed and got back on track. “Anyway, I was helping Maggie with her homework, she’s such a great little kid, really smart, you know? And then suddenly the front door opened and Fabian Frost walked in. Ev asked him to leave but he wouldn’t listen, he said he just wanted the girl and nothing would happen to us if we handed her over.”

Nick nodded his head towards the closed door to the bar. “The mirrors and all the glass out there, was that you?”

“Yeah.” Alyssa snorted and wiped away the new moisture that was welling up in her eyes. “Fat lot of good that was. I was just trying to buy us some time, hold him back until we could get everyone out the back door, but...”

“Lonnie LeBlanc was at the kitchen door,” Darla said, her voice furious. Now, Nick could see that she had a little gash at her hairline, circled by a rapidly darkening bruise. It had stopped bleeding, but it looked nasty. “He was all bruised and cut up and he had his arm in a sling, but that didn’t help any. Bastard knocked me out.” The end of her tail flicked back and forth like that of an angry cat.

Alyssa twisted her face into a furious grimace. “I don’t know what happened next. There were shards of broken mirror everywhere and Frost... he just looked at me and everything got so cold I couldn’t think. I don’t remember anything else until I woke up and couldn’t stop shivering. The bar was ruined and Ev was... he was dead. He must’ve given everything he could to keep that little girl safe.” She sniffled and blinked her eyes again, trying to hold back the tears.

Lieutenant Zheng cleared her throat. “I’m very sorry this happened to your friend,”she said. “I should have insisted on police protection for Officer Harding’s family. There is no excuse for letting you get dragged into this.” 

Nick could hear the accusation in her voice and was just about to open his mouth and defend himself, but Alyssa was faster.

“Why?” she asked. “If Frost did this to _us_ what do you think a bunch of normal cops could have done to stop him? Ev is... he was the strongest telekinetic in the city. The only reason Frost never came here before is because he was _scared_ of Ev. So don’t give us that _bullshit_.”

“She’s right,” came Leo’s quiet voice from the doorway. Zheng turned around, obviously not prepared to be contradicted by one of her subordinates. “Everett agreed to help because he was one of the few people who _could_. Don’t diminish his sacrifice. This is not just any criminal we’re dealing with.”

For a moment, Lieutenant Zheng looked like she was going to say something else, but then seemed to change her mind. “All right,” she said. “I apologize. This isn’t the time to argue and cast blame. We have to get Maggie back.” She turned to Nick. “Why her? Is he holding her for leverage?”

Nick shook his head. He knew that he was still in shock, that numb, emotionless place that let him distance himself from everything and think clearly when really he ought to be a distraught mess. There was no time for that now. He had to deal with the situation as it presented itself and just save the falling apart for later. 

“No,” he said. “It’s because of the Zarathustra project. That’s why Fabian wants her.”

Alyssa and Darla both looked like walking, talking question marks and Zheng frowned, clearly not understanding the significance of the statement. Leo and his sister did, it was plain to see from the way they both blanched with unspeakable horror. Nick wanted to kick himself for not figuring it out earlier, but it was too late for that now. 

“This had nothing to do with either of us,” he told Leo, catching his eyes and holding his gaze. He knew Leo had to be blaming himself for the kidnapping. “It’s all because of what they did to your father. Dr Mathers wants that treatment for his new race.”

He quickly explained the broad strokes of what he had learned in Fabian’s lab. “It makes sense,” he said then. “Imagine someone like Lonnie with your abilities. He’s already pretty much unstoppable. If he had your strength and your durability, he’d be invincible.”

Darla shuddered, clearly reliving her earlier encounter with Lonnie. “I don’t want to live in a world where people like Lonnie Leblanc are invincible,” she said. 

“Neither do I.” Alyssa let the blanket fall to the floor. She was still shivering with cold, but her eyes were blazing embers of fury. “This neighborhood used to be _safe_. I was just a little girl back then, but you could walk outside the door without being frightened. Then Fabian Frost moved in and now he’s got everyone so scared that he thinks he can just waltz in here and kidnap little girls like it’s his _right_? He can’t fucking _do_ things like that!” She turned to Lieutenant Zheng. “You need someone to testify against that asshole? I’ll testify. I’ll stand up in court and I’ll tell everyone exactly what he’s been doing these past ten years. And I know a whole lot of other people around here who’ll do the same. He needs to figure out that he can’t do things like this without repercussions.”

Her voice had taken on the Southern accent it always did when she was upset. Behind her, Darla was nodding in agreement. “I’ll do it too,” she said. “Everyone will.” She looked to Nick for confirmation. 

“Yeah, me too,” he nodded. The signed deal in Zheng’s locked desk drawer suddenly seemed petty and unimportant. If he’d only done something earlier, stood up to Fabian years ago, nothing of this would have happened. Yes, he’d probably be in prison himself, but Everett would at least be alive. Leo and his family would never have been involved. 

Leo’s grateful look as the words left Nick’s mouth almost hurt. What did he expect, that Nick was just going to let this pass? But that was not the most pressing issue at hand. “We’ll have to get her back first,” he said. “And I think we need to do it fast. I don’t know exactly what they did to give the Zarathustra subjects their abilities, but my guess is that finding the source won’t be pleasant.”

Linda paled a little more and Leo wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. Nick realized that it might not have been the most sensitive thing to say around the kidnapped girl’s family, but he was still in that laser guided focused place where all he could see was the situation at hand and the best way to deal with it. 

“Where will he be keeping her?” Lieutenant Zheng asked, clearly just as motivated to come up with a good plan as Nick was. 

Nick thought about it for a while. “The Frost Spire,” he said finally. “When I was there today, Fabian had upgraded his security. That place is a fortress right now. That’s where I would take her.”

Zheng nodded curtly. “We have enough to get a warrant to search the place,” she said and reached into her coat pocket for a cell phone. “I can have a SWAT team there in an hour.”

Nick shook his head. “And your SWAT team will be dead in an hour and a half. Seriously, what part of normal cops versus superhumans did you not understand?” At Lieutenant Zheng’s shocked look, he spread his arms in frustration. “ _Yes_ , I used the super-word! In that building, you have a man who can freeze people to death with a look, you have a guy who can call down lightning, a guy who doesn’t feel pain and is a psychopath to boot, and a woman who can read your mind as easily as an open book. And that’s just the ones we know about! Do you really think they’re going to play nice and obey the law and use whatever pretty, harmless little words normal people have decided to call us to try to convince themselves that we’re not dangerous?”

He was aware that he was getting worked up, but everything that had happened during this day had him overwhelmed. He leaned back against a counter, took a deep breath, and ran his fingers through his hair to try to calm down a little. Everyone was staring at him and it made him feel self-conscious and a little embarrassed, but he knew that if he couldn’t make his point, a lot of people were going to die as a result. 

“What you have over at Frost Spire is an entire building full of people who believe that having special abilities makes them better than normal people. They think they have the right to do things just because they _can_.” He turned to Lieutenant Zheng and shook his head slowly. “Your team won’t last fifteen minutes.”

“He’s right,” Leo said, nodding in agreement. 

Zheng crossed her arms over her chest with a deep frown. “And what do you propose, gentlemen? Are we going to just sit here and wish Maggie back?”

Nick snorted. “Yeah, wouldn’t that be a useful ability to have.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose, suddenly feeling very tired. He knew what he was going to have to do, and there was nothing he wanted less, but he couldn’t see another way. “I’ll go in after her,” he said. “I was in there this afternoon. I know what kind of security measures Fabian has and I know I can get past them. I’ll go in, get the kid, go out. With a little luck, no one’ll even notice me.” He thought over the plan, the things he remembered about the Spire, the floorplan, the blueprints. There were ways in that Fabian wouldn’t have thought of and once he was in, Nick was going to be able to fool the security system into thinking he wasn’t even there. It was going to be a strain on the implant and he probably had one hell of a headache to look forward to, but it was doable. “Just one thing,” he said. “I’ll need a distraction. Something to take the heat off me.”

“Let me handle that,” Leo said, cracking his knuckles. 

Zheng looked like she was about to start protesting, but Leo interrupted. “Sabrina, this is exactly the thing I was hired for. Police officers with special abilities to go after criminals with special abilities, remember?”

“I’m coming too,” Alyssa said. She was still shivering a little bit, but looked so determined and so very pissed off that Nick wasn’t going to argue with her. 

“No.” Lieutenant Zheng said immediately. “I will not put any more civilians at risk.” She turned to Alyssa. “You need to go to the hospital and get yourself checked out. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, Ms Pitts, but you’re not a police officer. I’m willing to go along with Mr Vargas request since he seems to be the only person who can do what he does, but I will not let anyone else put themselves in harm’s way, is that clear?” She turned to Leo. “Put a team together. You can have anyone you want, just keep the civilians out of it.”

Leo spread his hands in frustration. “If there were other cops like me, I’d be happy to bring them along, but there _aren’t_ any. I’m sure the Mayor and the Chief of Police thought they were very progressive, giving me this job, but the fact is it was too little too late.” He made an ugly face. “I’m sure the plan was to ease people into the idea of having people like me on the force, but now you’re standing here with half a dozen superpowered criminals who are prepared to do anything to reach their goals, and all you have to put up against them is one single freak with a badge.” 

Lieutenant Zheng’s face fell a little bit, her expression a mix of sadness and disbelief. “I have never thought of you that way, Leo. You must know that.”

Leo seemed to deflate, like the air seeping out of a balloon. He slumped against one of the kitchen counters, rubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

He probably had meant it, Nick realized. He wondered what life had to be like for Leo, the only one in his workplace with special abilities. Most people didn’t care, but there were always snide voices, people who would talk shit behind your back. 

Leo looked up again, determination written all over his face. It was clear this wasn’t a fight he was going to back down from. “I’m serious though,” he said, nodding his head to indicate Nick and Alyssa. “They want to help, and we need to let them, because there is no one else to send. Doing it any other way will just put countless norms in danger.”

Zheng started to shake her head, but whatever she had been about to say was cut short when Linda opened her mouth. “Oh, for God’s sake, Sabrina, just let them do it! Why are we wasting time arguing when that man has my daughter?”

Darla carefully raised her hand. “I would offer to go too, if I thought there was anything useful I could do. I know Ev would have. Lieutenant, if you went out and knocked on a dozen doors here in the neighborhood, you would get more volunteers than you knew what to do with.”

“We don’t need that many,” Nick said. He wasn’t even fond of letting Leo and Alyssa come with him. He wasn’t going to be responsible for another dozen of lives. “We don’t need to be flashy, we just need to be smart. Right now, Fabian feels safe because he’s an arrogant asshole who believes that no one is going to dare to come after him. That’s our opening.”

Leo nodded slowly, seeming to catch up on Nick’s train of thought. “So we go in under the radar. Sneak in where he’s not expecting us?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Nick grinned, feeling a plan form in his mind. “ _I’m_ going in under the radar. _You_ are not.”


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Nick didn’t have a car and Leo’s Toyota was probably still decorating a wall in the warehouse district so they had to use Alyssa’s ancient Volvo. She’d had it for as long has he had known her and it was a miracle it hadn’t fallen apart yet. It was also completely lacking anything even remotely similar to a computer and the absence of electronic feedback was a little unnerving, even in the passenger seat.

They had parked a few blocks away from the Frost Spire, in an alley out of sight. Nick didn’t know if anyone had seen them, but he doubted it. 

There had been a brief meeting where they had gone over Nick’s plan and tried to shoot holes in it, but given how little time they had, it was probably as solid as it was going to get. Lieutenant Zheng had made sure they were equipped with bulletproof vests. Leo was the only one who was armed, with a gun in his shoulder holster under the denim jacket. Alyssa had brought the taser she kept in her handbag. Nick had decided to just rely on the fact that he could make the building’s electronics do his bidding. He figured that if he got himself into a situation where he would need a weapon, he’d already be screwed. Leo and Alyssa could handle the flashy part of the plan. Nick was just going to turn himself invisible.

Leo leaned forward between the two front seats. “You sure about this?” he asked. “I don’t like you going in there by yourself.”

Nick snorted, studying the rising building in the distance. “It’s not _me_ I’m worried about,” he said. He’d tried very hard not to think about the fact that he was sending Leo and Alyssa in there to basically be bait. Instead, he pushed the thought away and turned his mind over to the more important things. “What’s Maggie like?” he asked Leo. “Will she be scared? I need to know how she’s likely to react when I find her.”

“She’s a pretty tough kid.” Leo’s face twisted into an expression of deep concern. “D’you think they’re hurting her?”

“I hope not,” Nick sighed. “It’s only been a couple of hours yet, but I really don’t want to wait any longer.” Something else dawned in his mind. “Is she going to fight them? She has the same abilities as you do, right?” The thought of a nine-year-old girl with Leo’s strength was a little weird.

“Not unless they try to hurt her.” Leo frowned. “We’ve been trying to teach her that she has to be careful with people who aren’t as strong as she is. It’d take a lot before she got violent. Why do you ask?”

“Just need to know what to expect, that’s all.” Nick stroked a finger over his lower lip, thinking. “All right. No reason to wait any longer.” He opened his door and stepped out, buttoning up his pea coat. Then stuck his head into the car. “Give me ten minutes before you go in there. I want them to be busy dealing with you while I take over the system.”

Alyssa peered up at him. “Yeah, about that? Are you sure you’re going to be able to do it? It’s a little more complicated than a cell phone, right?”

Nick spread his arms and grinned. “Oh ye of little faith!” Then he grew serious and leaned down again, “Really, I’ll be okay. It probably won’t be much fun, but I can do it.”

Leo squirmed around until he found the lever to push the passenger seat forward so he could wriggle out of the car. It looked like a series of very advanced yoga poses. If the situation had been any less grim, Nick would probably have started laughing. As it was, he just waited patiently until Leo had extracted himself from the steel trap of the Volvo. Alyssa stayed in the car, seemingly to give them a little privacy. 

“I’m really sorry about all this,” Leo said when they were alone. At first glance, he looked calm and collected, but Nick was beginning to learn to know him well enough by now to realize that he had to fight hard to keep his anger under control. His fists were tightly clenched and there was something restless about him, like he found it difficult to stay still. His bruises were already healing, fading green and yellow now where they had been black and blue only the day before. Nick had checked his stitches earlier while they were putting the vests on and had found that the gash in his side looked much better too, the red puffiness from earlier almost gone. Leo hadn’t been lying when he’d said that he healed fast. 

Nick went for a smile. “No apologizing,” he said. There were a lot of emotions going on somewhere underneath the surface of all this, stuff he couldn’t afford to think of right now when he needed to keep his head straight.

Leo smiled back, his mouth thin and a little strained. He had to be out of his mind with worry, but managed to keep himself together in an admirable way. “Well, you wouldn’t have been dragged into all this if it hadn’t been for me,” he said, stepping a little closer, shielding Nick from the wind with his body. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I really do,” Nick protested. It felt natural to reach out, put a hand on Leo’s shoulder for reassurance. “Fabian crossed a line. If I don’t do something, the who will?”

The look Leo gave him was almost unbearably gentle. “I knew you were a good man,” he said, a little hint of triumph in his voice. 

Nick grinned wryly. “You keep telling yourself that,” he said. Then, he was interrupted before he could say anything else when Leo leaned down and quickly brushed their lips together.

“For luck.” 

Nick slid his hand up to cup Leo’s neck and pull him back in again. “Better do it properly then. We need all the luck we can get.”

This time, it was a real kiss, the kind it would be far too easy to get lost in. Nick even allowed himself to cling a little bit, and felt how Leo was clinging to him in return. He realized that they were going to have to get out of this alive, they had to get all this fixed, so they could get a chance to sit down together and try to figure out exactly what it was they had going on here. 

They were interrupted when Alyssa knocked on the car window and pointed at her wristwatch, both eyebrows raised in impatient amusement. Nick stole the time for another quick kiss and then stepped away. Letting go of Leo was one of the most difficult things he’d done today.

He didn’t say anything else, couldn’t think of any words, so he just forced himself to take his hands off Leo and just turn around and walk away. 

Stupidly dramatic, yes, but at least it got the job done.

About two years in, just about the time when Nick had started to realize just how deep in the shit he’d managed to land himself, he’d gotten his hands on the blueprints of the Frost Spire and memorized them. He was more or less certain that Fabian didn’t know about it, and also that he didn’t know about the time Nick had spent exploring the lower levels, finding every possible way in and out of the building. 

Later, Fabian had trusted Nick enough to let him oversee the installation of the state-of-the-art security system. That certainly came in handy too. 

Nobody ever used the service door on the east side that led to the basement, and the security was weak there. It was no mystery why - the door didn’t actually lead anywhere, unless you knew the building in and out, which Nick did.

He still had a backdoor into the main security network of the building and used it to disable the camera at the door and put the footage on a loop. Then, he got access to the security cameras in the lobby. He checked the time, found that he had a couple of minutes before Leo and Alyssa were due to make their move. He settled in to wait beside the door, keeping an eye out to make sure no one was was watching the alley. Once his distraction was set in motion, he’d have to move quickly. 

It didn’t take long. Nick kept watching the security footage from the lobby on the screen of his phone, the guards and the enormous glass walls. The guards looked bored. It would be time for a shift change soon and they were probably tired and eager to get home to their families.

Nick saw Leo and Alyssa come up to the doors before the guards did. They must have been warned beforehand, or at least gotten Leo’s description, because the moment the guards caught sight of them, they reached for the button on their control board to lock the front doors.

Leo walked up to the door and knocked, pressing his CPD badge and the warrant Lieutenant Zheng had quickly obtained up against the glass where the guards could see. The two uniformed men looked at each other and then began reaching for weapons. 

A locked glass door wasn’t going to stop Alyssa. She took a few steps back from the door, spread her legs wide for balance, placed her hands at her hips and opened her mouth to let out a short, sharp burst of sound. There was no audio on the security video, but Nick had seen her do the same thing before. 

The glass doors and windows exploded in a rain of shards, bursting inwards. The guards had to duck down behind the reception desk to avoid the deadly shower. 

Leo drew his weapon and stepped through the now empty door frame, Alyssa following in his heels. There seemed to be a lot of shouting going on.

That was Nick’s cue. He had no time to watch any longer, no matter how much he wanted to keep an eye on what was going on in the lobby. He’d just have to trust Leo and Alyssa to take care of their part of the plan.

The door had an electronic lock, a child’s play to get open. He slipped inside and closed the door behind him, reactivating the security camera outside once he was in. If it was looped for long enough, someone was bound to notice, and he didn’t want anyone to realize that there was another intruder in the building. 

Fooling the security cameras inside the Frost Spire took a little more work, but it wasn’t the hardest thing he’d ever done, even if it required perfect timing. Nick moved through the basement, past the boiler room and the storage areas, until he reached the staircase that led into the rest of the building. Here, he had to take all the security cameras out of play at once. 

He took a minute to check the lobby again. Both the guards had their weapons out, semi-automatics by the look of it. Leo and Alyssa were both outgunned and soon to be outnumbered. Nick hoped they wouldn’t do anything that might land them in the middle of a firefight. For this to work, they had to stick to the plan. 

Nick was more or less sure that Fabian and Mathers would be holding Maggie somewhere in the research division. That was the only thing that made sense, considering how much the security had been upgraded there. And that division started on the thirteenth floor. He looked up the stairwell and sighed. Wonderful. At least he’d get a decent workout out of it. 

He steeled himself and began to climb, making sure the protective bubble around his head was in place. He wondered if Gina was in the building right now - she probably was. Alyssa knew how to keep her brain free of nosy telepaths, and they had given Leo basic instructions. If his concentration was shattered, it was probably not going to be enough, but hopefully his beginner level defence would last long enough for Nick to do what he had come to do. 

He was going to have to add more running in stairs to his workout regimen. His legs had started to burn after three flights and there were ten more to go. 

Every once in a while, he checked the security video. More and more people were welling into the lobby and the last time he took a look, he found Leo and Alyssa surrounded, their hands in the air. There was an uncomfortable number of weapons pointed at them. Nick put his phone away, hoping that they would be able to talk their way out. He had to focus on Maggie right now, he couldn’t start worrying about getting Leo and Alyssa out as well.

By the time he reached the thirteenth floor, Nick was breathing hard. He had to stop and rest on top of the stairs, hands on his knees, trying to get some air back into his lungs. He took a moment to appreciate the fact that he’d managed to give up smoking all those years ago. 

The security cameras on the other side of the stairwell door showed no one in the hall outside. Nick still double checked the elevators before he opened the door and stepped out into the main building. Everything was quiet in the hallway. It seemed everyone were busy with the commotion downstairs, just like Nick had assumed. 

The advanced lock on the door to the science division was a lot more complicated to tease open than the lock downstairs. Nick could feel the headache begin to build behind his eyes. He wasn’t looking forward to what was coming next. Hopefully, this would be the worst of it, but he doubted it. Judging from what he’d seen earlier in the day, Fabian must have had Nick in mind when he redesigned the place. 

It took him almost five minutes to get the lock open and bypass the fingerprint scanner. Getting into the more advanced security system inside would be another obstacle he had to overcome. 

The trick was to act like he belonged there. It was getting late and almost all scientists in the department had to have left for the day. Nick went for the tried and tested tactic of just walking quickly and smiling at everyone he met. Meanwhile, he searched frantically for a way into the security system.

He almost had it when an eerily familiar voice rang out behind him.

“Mr Vargas? I didn’t expect to see you back so soon. Was there anything you wanted to discuss further?”

Nick turned around, hurriedly shaping his expression into one of perfect innocence before he came face to face with Dr Elroy Mathers. The little man was walking a little hunched over, dressed in an over sized white lab coat, the thin glasses perched precariously on his nose. He didn’t _look_ particularly threatening, but right in this moment he was the one person who could destroy the whole plan. 

“Yes, as a matter of fact I did,” Nick said, struggling to come up with an excuse for his presence. He hoped Mathers hadn’t noticed his sudden surprise. Now, how to get rid of the man? He was still trying to get access to the security system and it was difficult to do it and concentrate on the doctor at the same time. “Could I have another look at those nanite schematics? I had a thought that I would like to try out.”

There was a very faint little frown on Mathers’ face. For a moment, Nick was certain that he’d been found out and he started searching for a way, _any_ way, out of there. Then, Mathers made a beckoning motion.

“Certainly. This way please. I was just on my way out, but I can spare you some time.”

Mather’s smile was thin and strained like a length of piano wire. Nick was hastily shown into the lab he’d visited earlier in the day. Most of the computer screens were turned off now and there was only a dim light lit. Dr Mathers walked into the lab, to the large screen in the far end of the room. “I’m afraid I can’t let you bring any research material out of the building,” he said, reaching for the remote control. “It is far too sensitive. We can’t risk anyone unauthorized getting access to it.”

“Naturally.” Nick knew he was probably appearing to be distracted. Dr Mathers was already giving him a suspicious look as he activated the screen. It didn’t matter anymore though, he’d finally managed to get into the system. From there, it was easy to sift through the security footage from the floor until he found the right room. He kept his phone half-hidden in his hand while he did so, well aware that if Mathers discovered it, the doctor would know that Nick had not entered the building through the checkpoint downstairs.

On the screen of the phone was a small square room, no windows and only one door. There was a cot along one wall, and on the cot was a little girl. Nick recognised her from the photographs he’d seen. It couldn’t possibly be anyone else than Maggie Palmer. She was sitting curled up on the bed, hugging her knees. The picture was pixelated and blurry, but it looked like she’d been crying.

A flash of anger spread through Nick’s body. Fabian had crossed a line all right. Terrorizing business rivals was one thing. Threatening children? That was unacceptable, no matter how you looked at it.

“Mr Vargas?”

Dr Mathers’ voice brought him back to the present and the lab. The doctor was giving him an openly suspicious look now. Nick didn’t care much. He had everything he needed. Now all he had to do was get rid of the man so he could go and get Maggie. He figured that after this, his cover would be pretty much blown anyway, so he didn’t actually have anything to lose by pretending to be cooperative. 

“Do you have any duct tape around here?” Nick asked, looking around the lab.

Dr Mather’s raised a puzzled eyebrow. “I believe the is a roll in the cupboard over there,” he said, pointing his finger in the right direction. “Why?”

“Well, you see,” Nick said and walked over to the cupboard where he rummaged around until he found the tape. “I actually came here for Maggie Palmer, who I believe is locked up in room 201 right now. So you and I are going to take a walk over there and let that little girl out so she can go back to her family.”

When he looked up, he saw Dr Mathers open and close his mouth like a fish, before he suddenly pounced for the nearest desk drawer. Nick grabbed the tape and hurried over, getting there just in time to slam the drawer shut over Mathers’ fingers. While the doctor was jumping around, clutching his injured hand, Nick slid the drawer open again and fished out a nasty little handgun. 

“That wasn’t a smart move,” he said, shaking his head disapprovingly. He grabbed the gun, checked the magazine, racked the slide and put a bullet in the chamber. “Let’s just go quickly and quietly and I won’t have to hurt you any more.”

If looks could kill, Nick would have been dead on the spot. Dr Mathers’ eyes were shooting hateful daggers at him. “Traitor,” he hissed. “You’ll regret this.”

Nick held the gun steady on him. “The word ‘traitor’ would imply that I was ever on your side to begin with,” he answered lightly. “For your information, I never have been and I never will be. Let’s go, the girl has been waiting long enough.”

Mathers’ eyes roamed from Nick, to the gun, and back again, but he didn’t have any choice but to come. Nick didn’t know if he would actually have been able to shoot the man if he’d been forced to, but he counted on the fact that if Mathers had spent any time with Fabian and his people, he would assume that Nick wouldn’t have any scruples either.

They went down the corridor together, Nick walking close enough to the doctor that you wouldn’t be able to see the gun pointed to his side unless you were looking for it. He wondered what was going on outside the lab, where Leo and Alyssa were. He wished he could take a moment to check the security video from the lobby, but he had other things on his mind at the moment. 

The place was more or less empty and they didn’t meet anyone on their way to the room where Maggie was held captive. The door was more than a little tricky to open and by the time Nick had cracked the code, the headache had long ago set up shop behind his eyes. 

“Open the door,” he told the doctor when the lock clicked open. “Go in ahead of me. Walk over to the far wall and stay there, face towards the wall. Don’t move.”

Mathers gave him a deadly glare but followed orders. 

Maggie was still sitting on the bed when they entered the room. She looked up at them with red-rimmed eyes, but there was also a lot of defiance in her young face. Nick took that as a good sign. 

He had to deal with Mathers first though. The doctor was standing against the wall, just as instructed. Nick flicked the safety on and shoved the gun into his coat pocket, and then went on to tape Mathers’ hands and feet together. He put a strip of tape over the doctor’s mouth for good measure.

Not until that was dealt with did he turn to the girl. 

“Hi,” he said, trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible, given that he’d just walked into the room holding a man at gunpoint. “You’re Maggie, right?”

The girl nodded but didn’t say anything and she didn’t move from her spot on the bed.

Nick smiled. “My name is Nick, I’m a friend of your uncle’s. I’m here to help you.”

Maggie slowly untangled herself from her curled up position and scooted forward to sit with her legs hanging off the edge of the cot. “You know uncle Leo?” she asked.

“Yes,” Nick nodded and held out his hand. “I’m going to get you out of here. Come on.”

There was a slight frown on her face now and she studied him with plenty of scepticism. “How do I know you’re not lying?” 

Smart kid. 

“I guess you don’t,” Nick said, deciding that honesty was probably the best way to go. He pointed at the open door. “On the other hand, I’m the one who got the door open and it’s not like I have a reason to lie to you.”

She pursed her lips. “Tell me something about uncle Leo that only his friends would know,” she said. 

Nick spread his arms, helpless. “I’ve actually only known him for a couple of days,” he tried, but it was clear that Maggie wasn’t going to let him squirm his way out of the question. “Okay, okay. He... um, he likes Ella Fitzgerald.” He tried to come up with something he’d learned about Leo that would convince her. “He’s got the radio in his car set to a sports channel.” The rest of his memory was a complete blank. What else did he know about Leo that would be appropriate to tell a nine-year-old? “Uh, he’s pretty much a giant dork?” he tried.

Maggie grinned and jumped off the cot. “All right,” she said. “Let’s go!”

Nick had to force himself not to shake his head in amusement as he followed her out of the door. It figured that was what worked.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Nick left Dr Mathers in the room and locked the door behind them, and then motioned for Maggie to stay close to him while they quickly walked out of the science area. It was empty by now, no scientists left but the bound and gagged Mathers.

Maggie acted surprisingly calm. Leo had said she was a tough kid, but Nick was impressed. He doubted he would have been that unruffled had he been in the same situation when he was her age. 

Before they were about to leave the science area, Nick checked his phone and what was going on in the lobby. It was empty. Neither Leo nor Alyssa were anywhere to be seen. There were a bunch of guards standing around looking nervous, all of them visibly armed. Nick swore loudly, and then remembered that there was a child present and gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry,” he hurried to say. “Don’t listen to me, I’m a bad role model.”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “ _Please_. My mom says worse than that all the time.”

Nick had to smile. He liked the kid already. 

He quickly scrolled through the rest of the security footage from the building until he found Leo, who was being marched out of an elevator at gunpoint. It was the twentieth floor, where Fabian’s office was. He couldn’t find Alyssa anywhere and wondered if that was good or bad news. 

“What’s wrong?” Maggie asked, standing on tip toe to try to get a peek at the screen. 

Nick scowled. “Pretty much everything,” he muttered to himself. “We need to get you out of here as soon as we can.” Maggie had to be his first priority. Once she was safe, he could go back for Leo and Alyssa and hope he wouldn’t be too late.

First things first. He needed a distraction, and he needed to get rid of all the data that was stored in the lab’s computers. There was no way he was going to leave any of it behind for Dr Mathers and Fabian to play around with. He closed his eyes and concentrated, finding the mainframe for the science division. His head was pounding with the effort, but it didn’t matter. When the whole thing shorted out, a small little grunt of pain spilled over his lips, and when he opened his eyes again, Maggie was watching him worriedly.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Your nose is bleeding.”

Nick touched his fingers to his nose and frowned when they came away bloody. That hadn’t happened in a while. “I’m okay,” he said reassuringly, dabbing at his nose with his jacket sleeve. “Nothing to worry about.”

It probably was. He hadn’t strained himself this much since he got the implant, but it wasn’t like he could take a break and rest until the pressure in his head had gone away. 

Maggie didn’t look completely convinced, but seemed satisfied to see the nosebleed stop almost as soon as it had started. 

The smell of smoke was beginning to spread through the area. Nick hadn’t just erased the data, he had shorted out the entire computer bank as well, and it seemed like something somewhere had caught on fire. Just what he needed, a distraction to pull everyone’s attention away from the two of them.

But it also meant that they needed to get out of here fast before the fire started spreading. Nick offered Maggie his hand and she took it. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you back to your mom.”

The hallway outside the science department was empty and there was an alarm blaring somewhere. Nick opened the door to the back staircase and heard the sound of running boots on the stairs below. Okay, no getting out that way. Crap.

He turned to Maggie and quickly said, “You know what a space suit looks like, right? With those big round helmets?”

Maggie nodded. “Yes, why?”

Nick quickly checked the interior staircase to see if anyone seemed to be coming up those stairs, but couldn’t hear anything. “I want you to pretend you’re wearing one of those,” he said. “There’s a lady in the building who can read your mind and find out where we are, but if you’re wearing a pretend space suit, she won’t be able to.”

It was a grossly simplified explanation, but it was all he had time for at the moment. Hopefully it would be enough. Otherwise, he’d just have to move fast enough that Gina wouldn’t have time to do anything even if she knew where they were heading. 

Maggie nodded solemnly and then closed her eyes, a look of intense concentration on her face. “Okay,” she said when she opened her eyes again. “I’m pretending. Where do we go now?”

“Down the stairs, come on.”

They started running down the staircase, going as fast as Nick dared while still taking the time so stop and look around corners in case someone was sneaking up on them from the other direction. 

“Why can’t we go in the elevator?” Maggie asked when they were three stairs down. 

“That alarm means there’s a security lockdown,” Nick explained, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. His head was killing him. “We can’t get into the elevators.”

They hurried down another staircase and then Nick stopped short in the middle of the stairs, getting in front of Maggie, who yelped in fear. 

Lonnie Leblanc was coming up the stairs. He looked terrible, black and blue with bruises and with a huge black eye and a split lip. He was wearing a sling and was moving a little stiffly, like his body wasn’t quite willing to obey his commands, but there was no mistaking that determined look in his eyes. 

“Shit,” Nick breathed to himself, and then said, a little louder. “Hi, Lonnie, what’s up?”

Lonnie stopped a few steps below, pointing at Nick with a wide toothy grin. “You’re a dead man, Vargas.”. 

“Come on, it was just one little car, it’s not like it’s the worst thing that ever happened to you,” Nick tried, very much aware that he was babbling, trying to stall for time to come up with a way out. He had no chance against Lonnie in a fight man-to-man, definitely not in the narrow staircase, and there was nothing here for him to work with. 

He started to back slowly up the stairs again, sensing how Maggie did the same behind him. He couldn’t let Lonnie get to her. If worse came to worst, he’d just have to try to jump Lonnie anyway to give her a chance to get away. It would be suicide, but it was the only choice. 

Lonnie just launched himself up the stairs, reaching for Nick with huge hands. Nick put up an arm in a pathetic attempt at defence and heard Maggie shriek behind him. He stumbled backwards and had to catch himself against the stairs so he wouldn’t end up on his ass. 

Lonnie was just a few inches away when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, convulsing and falling on his face. Nick scuttled away to avoid getting buried under Lonnie’s massive body.

“Take _that_ , asshole,” Alyssa said, stepping around the corner. She was sweaty and a little out of breath and held her taser in a firm grip in her hand. It was still crackling with electricity, blue sparks dancing around the prongs.

“Alyssa!” Maggie cried and threw herself down the stairs, wrapping her arms around Alyssa’s waist in a tight hug. Alyssa hugged her back and tousled her hair before she turned to Nick. 

“You okay?” she asked. 

Nick nodded, feeling a little stunned himself. “Yeah, we’re good. Thanks for the assist.” He got to his feet and dusted off his clothes. “Leo?”

Alyssa shook her head. “They tried to bring us upstairs. We resisted. I got away, he didn’t. I’ve been dodging these boneheads for thirty minutes now, looking for a way out.”

“Crap.” Nick scratched his neck, trying to come up with some good ideas. His head was pounding and it was beginning to interfere with his reasoning. To add to the problems, he could hear running footsteps from above. “We have to get out of here,” he said. “Is it clear downstairs?”

“Not really, there are people everywhere.” Alyssa let Maggie go and walked over to Lonnie, who was beginning to twitch and make attempts to get up. She jabbed the taser into his neck and zapped him again. “Can you get the elevators started?”

Nick fished the purloined roll of tape out of his pocket and taped Lonnie up in a neat little Christmas package. “That shouldn’t be a problem, but we can’t get into them. The doors are mechanical, there’s nothing I can do with that.”

Maggie perked up. “I can fix that!” she exclaimed and hurried down the staircase to the closed elevator doors. She pried her fingers into the crack between the doors and forced them open, a look of intense concentration on her face. 

Nick and Alyssa dragged Lonnies limp body into the elevator and Nick focused hard on getting it running again. The footsteps were getting closer now, both from up- and downstairs, and he could hear voices shouting. Someone must have found Dr Mathers. 

It was getting more and more difficult to coax the technology into his bidding, but at least there was no new nosebleed. The elevator doors closed just as the running footsteps hit the staircase they had just been on.

They rode the elevator down a couple of floors before they got out and Nick convinced the thing to keep going down to fool anyone who was watching the display outside. The floor they got off on was empty and Nick immediately went for the door to the back stairway. It was predictably locked, and he was just about to get it open when he heard someone coming up the stairs. It was only one person and it had to be a woman, judging by the sound of her high heels against the staircase.

Once again, he stepped in front of Maggie. Alyssa did the same, brandishing her taser in front of her. 

The approaching woman was taking her time. It was no surprise at all to Nick when Gina Blackburn came walking around the corner of the landing. She shook her head, tutting her tongue. 

“I wouldn’t go that way if I were you,” she said calmly. 

Gina was dressed in a perfectly tailored, emerald green suit, the skirt just a little too short for proper business attire. Nick felt his stomach sink. They’d been able to trick Lonnie, but that wouldn’t work on Gina.

“A space suit, Nicky?” she laughed her pearly little laugh. “Inventive, I’ll give you that. And so very effective too.” Gina turned to Maggie and smiled. “Well done, young lady.” She turned back to Nick. “It’s a pity you never could shield properly with a headache.”

Nick shrugged, trying to appear unaffected by her taunting. “It was worth a shot.”

“I’d say.” Gina checked her gold wristwatch. “Very well. In a few moments, we will have a lot more company here. We need to get down to the fifth floor and go out through the back staircase that way. The floor has already been cleared. They have been working their way both up and down, hoping to trap you in the middle.”

Alyssa just stared at her and Nick couldn’t believe his ears. “What are you talking about?” he blurted out.

Gina raised one delicately angled eyebrow. “You were trying to get out of here, weren’t you? I’m just trying to help.”

“Why would you help us?” Alyssa growled. She looked like she’d rather try to get the jump on Gina and use the taser.

Gina gave her a condescending little smile. “I could say something about gift horses, but I’m afraid that would take too long. Please come with me.” She turned on her heel and walked back down the stairs.

Nick and Alyssa gave each other a look. “What choice do we have?” Nick asked quietly.

“I don’t like it,” Alyssa hissed back. “What proof do we have that she won’t just lead us straight into the arms of a security team?”

Nick spread his arms. “None at all. Do you have a better alternative?”

She clearly didn’t. “Come on then,” she snapped and took Maggie’s hand in hers, following Gina down the staircase. She kept her taser ready though, just in case. 

Nick brought up the rear, keeping an ear and an eye out for unpleasant surprises, but he couldn’t help but wonder what motives Gina had for helping them now. She’d said that he couldn’t shield properly with a headache. Did that mean that she’d been onto him ever since the dinner at the Everest? It wasn’t impossible. Gina had always given him the impression of having her own agenda, no matter what Fabian’s plans were.

They reached the fifth floor without incident, so Gina had been telling the truth about that at least. Nick got the lock on the back door open and cracked the door open, listening in the stairwell. He couldn’t hear anything from downstairs. “I think it’s clear,” he told Alyssa. 

Gina stood beside the door, holding it open for them. “Better hurry up,” she said, surprisingly gently. “You don’t have much time.”

Alyssa and Maggie went through the door first. Nick wanted to follow them, wanted to just get out of here and get it all over with. But he wasn’t done yet. 

“What about Leo?” he asked Gina. 

She snorted. “Your handsome Officer Harding did quite a bit of damage to the security team,” she said. It looked like she wasn’t mourning the fact too much.

“He’s got a lot of pent up aggression,” Nick agreed. Considering all the assault charges he’d covered up and buried for those guys, he couldn’t bring himself to feel sorry for them either. “Where did they take him?”

“To Fabian’s office.” Gina pointed a well-manicured finger upwards. “He’s not in a good mood, Nicky. I wouldn’t recommend a visit. You could just walk away and forget all about this, be free of it for good. I know that’s what you want.”

Nick sighed and shook his head. “And you also know I can’t do that. Not now.”

She reached out a hand to lightly caress his cheek, a faint tinge of regret on her face. “I know. He called you a good man and now you have to live up to that expectation.” Gina smiled. “You just had to go honest on us, didn’t you?”

Nick shrugged. “It’s not like I planned it. Why are you doing this anyway? Helping us?”

Gina laughed her pearly little laugh again. “I’m not going to go down with a sinking ship, dear, and this ship sprung a leak long ago.” She leaned a little closer. “Between the two of us, darling? You’ve been chasing the puppet when you should have been looking for the puppeteer.”

“I thought that was you?” Nick asked, suspiciously. He’d considered the possibility that someone else had been pulling Fabian’s strings. This was as good as confirmation.

“Oh, darling, you couldn’t be more wrong.” She shook her head. “Not at all. I wouldn’t want to be part of this idiocy if you paid me. We’re a rare commodity, Nicky. Where would we be if everybody had superpowers?” 

There were footsteps on the stairs again. Gina checked her watch and turned to Nick with a little smile. “If you’re serious about confronting him, I would suggest you go now.” She handed him a small key. “Use the lift and watch out for Frank, I think he’s still lurking around here somewhere. He’s very cross with you.”

“I’d hope so.” Nick went for the elevator. Gina’s key overrode the lockdown. “Thanks,” he said, just before she disappeared from sight. 

Gina didn’t answer, she just smiled and waved her fingers at him. Then, she was gone, and Nick was alone in the elevator with only Lonnie for company. He was still lying on the floor, awake from the taser hits now, but taped up tightly and squirming like mad to get up. Nick leaned against the mirrored wall and studied him for a while. His head felt like it was about to explode and he was feeling a giddy with pain and adrenaline. 

“You know, I’d really like to film you and put it out on YouTube,” he said. “Send a link to everyone in the community, let them know exactly how Alyssa took you out. That would feel really good. Kind of a catharsis, you know?”

Lonnie roared wordlessly behind the strip of tape over his mouth. Nick cocked his head to the side and watched him a little longer, quiet now. Tied up like this, Lonnie didn’t look nearly as intimidating as usual.

It was a quick smooth ride, and the elevator soon dinged open on the twentieth floor, just outside Fabian’s office. The doors were closed. Nick stepped out in the hallway and walked right into Frank Shane.

Frank had clearly had better days. He was holding himself a little stiffly, like his skin hurt, and there was a bandage around his hand. Having a cell phone blow up in your pocket and set your coat on fire had to smart.

Nick was late to react, a little stupid with headache, and before he knew it, Frank had shouted something rage-filled incoherent and whipped his arms out. The hallway sizzled with electricity and Nick jumped back, pressed himself up against the wall, so he wouldn’t get hit by the sudden bolt of lightning.

“ _Stop_ that you idiot!” he shouted. He could sense it now, the thing he’d missed before. The electronic feedback that was coming directly from Frank himself. 

“I am going to kill you,” Frank hissed and stepped forward, holding his hand out to reach for another thunderbolt.

Nick rolled his eyes and stepped away from the wall. “Frank, you’re a moron,” he said. “It’s nanites, isn’t it? That’s what gave you this ability? I’m betting you had them change the electrical impulses in your brain, that’s how you can call the lightning, am I right?”

Frank looked a little bit taken aback for a moment, hesitating. That was just what Nick had counted on. Frank had never been as clever as he pretended to be. 

“What about it?” he asked, sounding angry, but also somewhat uncertain. Nick could almost see the wheels start spinning in his head when he tried to figure out what it was he’d forgotten. It was amusing, but Nick decided to take pity on the less fortunate and bring him up to speed.

“For your information, Frankie, my friend,” he said. “You let them put a ton of tiny computers in your bloodstream.” He grinned widely, showing Frank a vicious flash of teeth while he tapped a finger against his temple. “I’m a technopath, numbskull. Do you have any idea what I can do to you?”

Franks expression slowly transformed from one of anger, annoyance and confusion, into one that could best be described as ‘Oh, crap’. It was almost beautiful to watch it, and Nick would have loved to take the time to enjoy it a little more, but he was already short on time and couldn’t waste any more standing around here squabbling with Frank.

Taking command of the nanites in Frank’s body was difficult, not like any other technology Nick had ever encountered. It was like trying to control a swarm of bees by taking over every individual insect, and it made his head pound even harder than it had done before.

He did do it though, and getting into their tiny operating systems was a bit of a rush in itself. He’d never had a chance to play around with technology that advanced before and Nick was almost a little afraid because it was so addictive. With these microscopic machines, he could to practically anything to Frank. Stop his heart, his breathing, his _brain_. 

He _could_ , but he wouldn’t. The exhilaration of the possibilities was almost a little sickening. Nick pushed it away, put it in a neat little compartment where he could deal with it later. He settled for just turning off Frank’s motor control and voice box and watched him slump to the floor, flopping like a dead fish. 

Nick felt like something fundamental had just changed inside him, like the world had just gotten a lot bigger and scarier. He didn’t have time to worry about it until he knew what had happened to Leo, so he just crouched down on the floor beside Frank and took a moment to study his wide, panicked eyes. 

“I could kill you right here,” he said quietly. “I have complete control of your life right now, and I can shut you off with a thought.” The horror shone out of Frank’s eyes and Nick felt a little too numb to worry about what it meant right now. “I’m not going to do that. I’ll just leave you here for the cops. Maybe if you’re really good, I’ll give you back the control over your muscles later. Right now I don’t have time to worry about you.” 

He stood up and left Frank prone on the floor, thinking distantly that Fabian might have crossed a line today, but Nick had just crossed one too. 

The doors to Fabian’s office were brushed steel. They were unlocked. Fabian must have been waiting. 

The metal was cold to the touch when Nick pushed the wide double doors open. A shiver ran through him, part of his mind thrown back in time to a moment where he used to walk through these doors every day. The chill had felt permanent back then, like something he’d never be able to escape.

But he _had_ escaped, and now when he was walking back into Fabian’s office, he suddenly realized that he wasn’t afraid of Fabian Frost anymore. He was too tired and in too much pain to be scared. Whatever happened next would happen, and Nick could see it with a kind of hazy acceptance. 

There were no carpets or rugs to dampen the hardness of the marble floor in the office. The furniture was made in glass and metal, all sharp corners and angles and wide shiny planes. Panorama windows ran from floor to ceiling, giving a breathtaking view of the city below, the black night and all the shining lights. 

Fabian was standing in the middle of the floor, dressed in his usual swanky clothes. At first glance, he looked just the same as usual, powerful and in control of everything around him. If you knew him better, it was plain that this was a man who was slowly seeing everything slip out of his fingers. 

The room was freezing cold. It was like stepping into a meatlocker. Leo was kneeling in front of Fabian, shivering, with his arms wrapped around himself. Someone had taken his jacket and he was only in his shirtsleeves. There were new bruises on his arms, and a trail of blood was running from his hairline, but his eyes were clear and bright with boldness. Nick met his gaze in an unspoken question and got a short nod in return. Leo was all right then. At least that was a relief.

As Nick entered, Fabian turned around and flashed him a smile that was just a little bit too wide. 

“Nicky!” he exclaimed. “I was just telling the officer here that I was expecting you to turn up any second now. I’m disappointed in you, pet.” 

“Fabian.” Nick walked into the room, forcing his teeth not to chatter in the bitter cold. “I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while. You should really lay off those ridiculous endearments. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Fabian’s smiled froze into a twisted grimace of barely contained fury and the temperature went down another few degrees. “Why are you doing this?” he asked. “You could be _anything_ , why would you ruin this for us all?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing.” Nick walked into the room. He could see flowers of frost form on the huge glass windows, on the surface of the metal desk. “Really, you had a good set-up here. The king of your own little kingdom. You had money, power, respect. So why get greedy? All this?” Nick waved his arms around, trying to indicate the building, the stupid project, _everything_. “It’s idiotic, really. It’s high-profile and it’s drawn everone’s attention. You could have puttered on for years and never have anyone oppose you, but the moment you fell in with that Mathers guy, people started _noticing_. Why? It wasn’t your own idea, was it? Who’s pulling your strings, jumping jack?”

He was clearly onto something, because Fabian was having trouble hiding his scowl. Being exposed as not completely in control had to be a serious blow to his pride. Suddenly, Nick wondered how he could ever have found this man intimidating. It was all a mask, a carefully constructed facade. Once things started falling apart, so did the pretense.

“You don’t know what kind of opportunity you’re missing out on,” Fabian growled. “I could give you the _world_.” 

He was walking around Leo in a wide circle, and Leo was watching him, unflinching. Nick had to admire that kind of bravado. He knew that it would only take a touch for Fabian to freeze them both solid, but he somehow doubted he’d actually do it. He was grasping for straws right now. The sound of sirens were coming from the street and even from this height, you could make out the blinking red and blue lights below. The police were here. Alyssa and Maggie were safe then, and Lieutenant Zheng was just waiting to make sure it was clear to move into the building.

Nick spread his arms. “Seriously, have you taken a look at the world lately? It’s a mess! Why would I want to clean up all that?” He slowly walked closer, like he was approaching a skittish animal. “It’s over, Fabian. I gave the police everything I have on you. There are eyewitnesses willing to testify on both kidnapping and murder charges. I don’t even know how to classify what the hell it was you had going on in that lab downstairs, but I’m pretty sure the DA is going to have a word or two to say about it. You’re _done_ here, man. Better just give up.”

For a moment, he was hoping that Fabian would do the smart thing for once and just do as he was told. 

Apparently, the smart thing wasn’t Fabians kind of approach. He turned on his heel, facing Nick, and before he had time to react, he was hit by a flash of cold more intense than he’d ever felt in his life. It burrowed into muscle and sinew and bone and took his legs out from under him. He ended up on the floor, shaking so hard that he could barely breathe. For a split second, he could see Ev’s face, frozen in death, for his inner eye and distantly mused that he’d end up the same way. 

Then, he saw Leo trying to get up from his kneeling position on the floor. He had to be just as cold, but was still struggling to get to his knees. Fabian was only paying him some cursory attention, most of his focus on Nick. All that was needed was something to take Fabian’s mind completely off Leo, give him the opportunity to make a move.

Nick made an effort to search out the electronic feedback in the room. Computers, the lock on the door, the alarm system. It was enough for quite a bang, if only he could find the strength to make it happen. His mind felt slow and sluggish, and he was vaguely aware that his nose was bleeding again, the taste of copper bright like a coin on his tongue.

One little push, that was all that was needed. Nick strained the implant one last time, sent out the thought that would effectively short out every electronic device in the room, all at once. 

In the next moment, the sparks were flying everywhere. Fabian jumped, surprised by the sudden noise and spattering of white and orange sparkles. There was a smell of burning plastic and wires and smoke started rising from the laptop on Fabian’s desk. He ducked down, shielding his face instinctively, and that was all the time Leo needed to make his move.

He was clumsy and uncoordinated, but he still managed to get to his feet and made a grab for Fabian’s arm to try to take him down. Fabian backed away, trying to avoid Leo’s hands, and stumbled backwards, right into the glass window.

It shouldn’t have broken, but the intense cold must have weakened the glass somehow. The moment Fabian collided with the window pane, it shattered. Nick had time to see his surprised, disbelieving face, before he went straight through the window and was gone. He could hear the scream for a while until it came to an abrupt end, and everything was eerily silent.

Nick knew he ought to get up from the floor, try to make sense of what had just happened, but his head felt swollen and sore and his nose was dripping blood on the marble where it promptly froze into crimson flecks of ice. He could hear alarms and sirens, but it was all very distant. So was the sound of Leo’s voice, somewhere nearby. He tried to use his arms to get up, but they were completely useless, heavy and numb. He couldn’t feel his fingers and his teeth were chattering in his skull.

Dimly, he could feel arms being wrapped around him, being half-lifted off the cold floor and up to lean against something incredibly warm. Leo held him up against his chest, gently stroking his arms to get the circulation back into them, and held him close to contain his violent shaking. Nick vaguely thought he could get used to that fantastic heat. He’d been so cold for so long now, and it was finally over.

Content in that knowledge, Nick closed his eyes and just checked out for a while.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 18

An indefinite amount of time later, Nick found himself sitting in the back of an ambulance with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and no idea how he had gotten there. He had very hazy memories of a large number of people in black with very big guns bursting into Fabian’s office. Later, he had been stumbling down twenty flights of stairs, leaning on Leo, with Leo’s arm around his waist to help him keep his balance.

He remembered getting down to street level, remembered seeing a black body bag being wheeled into a coroner’s van on a gurney, remembered seeing a huge pool of blood in the snow. After that, it was pretty much blank. 

A paramedic was fussing over him, shining a penlight into his eyes, which made his headache worse, and offering him some chemical hand warmers, which he gratefully accepted. Somehow, he doubted he’d ever be completely warm again. 

Leo had disappeared off to somewhere just after they’d exited the building. Nick hadn’t seen him for a while and figured he probably had plenty of things to do. He’d been far too groggy and cold to pay much attention to anything at all right then. Now, he’d been given some sorely needed painkillers for his head, and he could at least think again, even though he felt like he’d been run over by a truck. He was still shivering and he was probably not going to stop anytime soon. All he wanted was to go home and spend a few hours curled up on the bathroom floor under a hot shower, but he didn’t trust his own legs just yet, so he’d decided to just stay where he was for the time being. With a little luck, things would be calming down soon and he might possibly be able to hitch a ride home with someone. 

He looked up, over the shoulder of the paramedic, and scanned the crowd. There were plenty of people gathered around the building. Police officers and ambulance personnel were milling around, and the SWAT team was rounding up the Spire security guards. He saw four big burly guys guiding Lonnie into a police car. Adding to all that, there were a big mass of gawkers pushing each other on the other side of the yellow police tape, curious to see what was going on. Nick didn’t even have the energy to be annoyed by them, just watched them tiredly for a moment before he let his eyes flit over to the next thing in his field of vision. The focused emergency part of the shock was over and now he just felt numb and disconnected. Right now, it was almost enjoyable to just sit there and let everything happen around him for a little while, without a whit of worry.

Nick must have zoned out for a few minutes, because he came back to himself when Alyssa plopped down beside him. She was still wearing the bulletproof vest under a thick jacket someone must have found for her, and Nick was so happy to see her alive and well that he found himself almost ready to cry. He didn’t have any energy left for tears, so he settled for leaning into her side and resting his head on her shoulder. She did the same, and they sat there in silence for a while. 

Then, Alyssa straightened up and gently slapped him over the back of the head. “How can someone so smart be so stupid?” she asked. “I thought you were right behind us, you asshole!”

“I’m sorry.” Nick licked his lips, wondering if they really were as numb as they felt. 

“Just so you know, if you’d died, I would have found a way to bring you back so I could kill you all over again.”

He laughed a little bit, leaning into her again. “I know. I have no idea what I was thinking.”

Alyssa snorted. “Oh, I can guess.” She raised her head, sending a meaningful glance across the street. Nick followed her gaze and saw Leo standing there, talking to Lieutenant Zheng. Maggie was hanging all over him, clinging to his hand, and Linda was standing close beside him, one arm wrapped possessively around his waist. They looked like a nice little family and Nick was struck by a flash of jealousy so sharp that he almost surprised himself.

“What happened to Gina?” he asked Alyssa, forcing himself to turn away from the intimate scene. 

She shrugged. “I’ve no idea. She was with us when we came down to the street level, but then she disappeared. Why?”

Nick frowned, trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened during the day. “I think she knows something about all this that she didn’t tell us. She gave me a hint, but I’ve no idea what she was referring to.”

“A hint?”

“That Fabian wasn’t working alone.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead, hoping to ease the headache a little bit. “You know what, I don’t give a shit right now. The bastard can rot for all I care.”

“The cops have all kinds of questions,” Alyssa muttered, glaring at a perfectly innocent uniformed officer walking past. “I just want to get out of here and go home and sleep.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. “I should give Darla a call. And we need to try to get hold of Ev’s family. His father is still alive, right? Doesn’t he live somewhere in Colorado? Damn, what a mess. And what do we do with the Showroom?” 

Nick just shook his head, incapable of dealing with all those questions right now. He wrapped the blanket a little tighter around his shoulders and tried to stand, carefully testing his legs to make sure they would hold him. They were a little wobbly, but not too bad. He glanced over at Leo and his family, and the Lieutenant. One more thing he didn’t have the energy to deal with at the moment.

“Is your car still around?” he asked. “I just want to get out of here.”

The paramedic had left him alone and walked over the street to fuss over the cut on Leo’s forehead instead. Leo was trying to wave him away, like he was swatting at an annoying little fly. Nick couldn’t hold back a smile at the sight.

“Wanna go say goodbye?” Alyssa asked. 

Nick watched the scene for a little longer, how Leo and Linda were now listening intently to something Maggie was telling them, and Lieutenant Zheng was watching the family with a content little smile on her face. Nick realized there was never going to be a place for him there. Considering how furious Linda had been with him earlier, it would probably be a really bad idea to remind her of his continued existence. He wouldn’t be able to defend himself against a newborn kitten right now, even less an angry mother. And Leo’s number one priority would always be his family. He wouldn’t give that up for someone like Nick. 

“Nah.” Nick demonstratively turned his back to the street, shutting everything out. “I just want to go home and shower until the hot water runs out, and then I think I’m going to sleep for a week or so.”

“Sounds good. “Alyssa yawned loudly and dug in her pocket for her car keys. “Add a bottle of vodka to that, and I think it’s a pretty good description of the rest of my night.” She glanced around and seemed to come to the conclusion that no one in particular was paying them any attention. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

They slipped away unnoticed and made their way back to Alyssa’s car, slogging through the snow on uncleared backstreets. Nick couldn’t remember ever having felt so exhausted before, and he couldn’t wait to get home to the migraine medication in his bathroom cabinet. Alyssa seemed almost as tired, walking slowly with her shoulders slumped in a line of grief. 

The drive home was silent. Nick’s eyelids were heavy and he’d almost fallen asleep already when Alyssa pulled up to the curb outside his apartment building. He fumbled the door open and staggered out, still clutching the blanket.

“Are you going to be all right?” Alyssa asked, leaning over the vacated passenger seat to peer up at him through the open door. “I hate to say it, but you look like shit. Do you want me to come up?”

Nick mustered a smile that he hoped looked more reassuring than ghastly. “I’ll live,” he said. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

He stumbled up the stairs, leaning heavily on the worn wooden banister. His feet seemed to weigh about a ton each, and he still couldn’t stop shivering. It was a relief to step into the apartment, like it was the first time he’d been able to relax all day. It was a little after midnight. Nick thought back and couldn’t believe all that had taken place in one day. And had it really only been five days since he first met Leo? It was difficult to fathom.

He headed straight for the bathroom and swallowed some painkillers, hoping they would at least take the edge of his headache. There was still some dried blood around his nostrils, despite the paramedic’s attempt to clean him up. The collar of his shirt was stained with blood too. Nick undressed, slowly and methodically, and threw all his clothes in the laundry hamper for now. He wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to wear them again, but didn’t have the energy to go and get a plastic bag to put them in to be thrown away. He turned the shower on as hot as it went and stepped in under the spray, turning his face up to let the water wash over him, pounding over his closed eyelids. The temperature was near scalding, but somehow, he still felt cold.

Whatever it was that had kept him going until now seemed to wash off him together with the sweat and the blood and circle down the drain. He managed to rub some shampoo into his hair before he ran out of energy and finally sank to the floor, leaning his back against the shower wall. His hands were shaking and he felt sick, thought for a moment he was going to throw up and eyed the distance to the toilet, wondering if he’d get there in time, but he managed to swallow the nausea down. He doubted there was anything to throw up anyway. He hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and knew that he ought to be starving, but he only felt like an empty, vacant shell, devoid of all emotion. 

Fabian was dead. Nick wasn’t even sure how he was supposed to feel about that. Relieved? Sad? Guilty? It hadn’t been part of any plan, but when he looked at the situation from every angle he could come to think of, it was the most favorable outcome he could see. There would be no clever wrangling from expensive lawyers, no evidence to be buried and no witnesses to threaten and bribe. Death was the one thing Fabian couldn’t squirm out of.

And still, the unbearable chill lingered, as if his ghost was still standing over Nick’s shoulder, refusing to grant him any respite. Soon, he was shaking all over. He curled up on the shower floor, wrapped his arms around his drawn-up legs, and rested his forehead on his knees, watching how suds of shampoo washed away and disappeared down the drain. There wasn’t much he could do, except sit there and shake and try to ride it out.

He didn’t know exactly how long he sat there and he might have dozed off a little, but when he came back to himself, the water was beginning to run cold and every bone in his body was aching. 

Nick slowly uncurled himself and got up, first to his knees, and then he gripped the shower fixture to heave himself to his feet. He turned off the water and stumbled through the steamy bathroom to get a towel and dry himself off.

He’d meant to go to sleep, but somehow he’d managed to pass right through the exhaustion and had come out on the other side, reaching the point where he just couldn’t get his eyes to close. It was the state of mind that could keep him up for days. He stood in the bedroom door for a while, gazing longingly at the bed, but the thought of just lying there unable to sleep held no allure. Instead, he put on the warmest sweats he could find and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. If he couldn’t sleep, he might as well get some work done. Anything to take his mind off the events of the day.

The workshop was still a mess. Had that only been Thursday night he’d found Leo down here? Nick sipped his coffee and poked a little at Charlotta’s burnt out shell. Well, he’d promised her he’d fix her up as good as new. 

Nick pulled a chair up to the workbench and grabbed his toolkit and got to work on Charlotta, let his fingers go through the motions and focused on the work, trying to keep every other thought out of his head. It worked for a little while, until the security system pinged to let him know someone was knocking on the door upstairs.

He checked the video to see Leo outside the door, looking up at the security camera with a half-pleading, half-peevish expression. Of course. Who else?

Nick sat there for a while, just watching the monitor. Saw Leo knock again, and faintly heard the banging from upstairs. He should probably go up there and open the door, _wanted_ to do it, but he couldn’t bring himself to move from the chair. Talking to Leo would demand more energy than he had at the moment. He just sat there and watched the monitor instead, until Leo went away and the hall was empty again. Then, Nick let his head fall forward to rest on his arms on the bench. He was tired beyond reason and wished he’d be able to just switch off and pass out. He’d be willing to sleep right there at the bench if it came to that.

For a while, there was only blessed silence and the comforting hum of the electronic equipment in the workshop. Nick closed his eyes and basked in it, allowed himself to float for a moment in that serene place where no thoughts existed.

There was a knock on the workshop door. Nick sighed, still not moving from his hunched over position. Leo was nothing if not persistent. He’d better get up and open, or he’d never get any peace and quiet.

Nick made an effort to gather enough steam to raise himself, but before he could even move from his spot at the workbench, there was a loud crack from the door. A chilly wind blew in and the hinges that Nick had meant to oil squeaked. 

Nick raised his head and blinked owlishly in the direction of the door. The lock was broken and Leo was standing in the open doorway, anxious concern written all over his face. Nick looked at him, at the lock, and back at Leo.

“Seriously?” he asked. “You had to break in?”

Leo stepped inside and carefully closed the door. It wouldn’t close all the way, the broken lock and the splintered wood around it preventing that. “You weren’t answering,” he said gruffly. “I got worried.”

Nick buried his head in his hands, rubbed his eyes vigorously to try to chase away the loopy fatigue. “Well, I’m all right,” he muttered, stretching and swivelling the chair around to face Leo.

He looked just about as tired as Nick felt. Someone had patched up the cut on his forehead with two tiny butterfly bandages, but there was a dark bruise around it. His shoulders were tensed up in a stiff, unhappy line, and there were deep lines around his eye as well, lines that Nick hadn’t seen there before. 

“You just disappeared,” Leo said, making it sound like an accusation. He must have realized himself how it sounded, because he sighed, and then said a little more gently. “They need you to undo whatever it is you did to Frank Shane. The doctors can’t make sense of it.”

“Oh.” Nick felt like giving himself a hard slap in the face. Maybe that would make his brain start working again. “I’d forgotten about him. It’s okay, I programmed the nanites to deactivate themselves after six hours. He should be back to normal soon.”

“Okay.” Leo came a little closer, peering down at Nick with quite a bit of concern. “Are you okay? You were pretty out of it earlier.”

Nick shrugged. “Mild hypothermia and a killer headache. I’ll be fine. I’m just a little cold.” He motioned to Leo’s head. “What about you?”

Leo looked puzzled for a moment, before he raised a hand to his forehead and gently touched the bruise there, wincing. “This? It’s nothing.”

“Okay.”

You could have cut the silence between them with a knife, it was so thick. Nick wished there was a way to just make the right words spill out of his mouth without making the bothersome turn through his brain. He had no idea what to do with all this. He’d done everything Leo had asked of him, what else did he want? Everything had become far too complicated for him to handle in his present dazed state and he was torn between wishing Leo would go away and let him figure it out on his own, and wanting him to stay and never ever leave again.

“How’s Maggie?” he asked, searching for something, _anything_ to say just to get rid of the awkward silence. 

Leo smiled at the mention of his niece. “She’s okay,” he said. “A bit shaken up, but she’s a tough kid. They didn’t hurt her.” He cocked his head and watched Nick with an unreadable expression. “She was pretty miffed that you’d left without saying anything. She wanted to thank you. Linda too.”

“Really?” Nick couldn’t stop himself from blurting out the word. He hadn’t expected Leo’s sister to want to ever see him again, and he really wouldn’t have blamed her if that had been the case.

“Yeah, really.” Leo smiled. “I’ll admit, she has a bit of a temper, but she’s not the kind to hold grudges. Besides, it wasn’t your fault. If it hadn’t been for the Zarathustra project, they wouldn’t have looked twice at either Maggie or me. No one blames you for that.”

Nick felt tears of relief wanting to spill from his eyes and blinked twice to wipe them away. He was so tired that it felt like his head was swimming, and he was beginning to feel sick again. “Okay,” he muttered. “Good. That’s good.” 

Leo frowned at him worriedly. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. “You’re white as a sheet.”

“I’m all right.” Nick made an effort and managed to get to his feet. The sudden change in elevation made him sway a little as the room spun viciously around him, and he had to reach out to grab the edge of the workbench to keep his balance. “I need to get some sleep, that’s all. I was just heading up to bed.” Okay, so the last part was a strictly true, but maybe it would make Leo leave him alone.

“Really?” Leo didn’t look convinced.

“Really,” Nick lied, and glanced at the broken door behind him. “At least that was the plan. Now I guess I have to try to find a locksmith who’d be willing to come over and fix the door at this time of the night. I have many talents, but fixing locks isn’t one of them.” He was aware that he was babbling, and when he saw Leo’s regretful, sheepish expression, he felt a little bad.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Leo muttered, turning around to inspect the damage. “I’ll take care of it.”

“No, it’s okay, you should go home and be with your family.” Nick tried to wave him away, but was struck by another vertigo attack and felt the room make a nauseating tilt around him. By the time he knew what was up and down again, Leo was holding his arm in a steadying grip. 

“You really don’t look good,” he said. “When was the last time you ate anything?” He glanced at the bench and caught sight of the half empty cup of coffee, which got a disapproving look. “It was breakfast, wasn’t it?”

“I guess,” Nick mumbled. His lips felt a little numb. “It’s okay, I’ll fix something and then I’ll get some sleep.”

“Unless you somehow found time to go grocery shopping during the past forty-eight hours, there is nothing edible in your kitchen,” Leo reminded him. “You know what, I’m just going to declare you a danger to yourself and bring you home with me. Linda cooks when she’s upset so the kitchen is probably full by now.”

Nick blinked, thought about the empty fridge upstairs and had to admit that Leo wasn’t wrong. Then he thought about Linda and Maggie and how he really didn’t have the energy to deal with any more people today. But most of all, a traitorous little part of his mind kept reminding him of how very nice it would be to just have Leo take care of him for a little while. 

“What about the lock?” he asked dumbly. 

Leo took out the cell phone he’d borrowed from Nick earlier and was already scrolling through the contact list. “I’ll take care of it,” he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m parked outside, the red Opel. You think you can walk out there on your own without falling on your face?”

Nick felt he should take offense at that, even though he had to admit that his legs felt decidedly shaky. He still raised his chin and walked past Leo through the door, making an impressive effort to maintain a straight line. Leo used his car key to click the lock on the Opel open and Nick more or less fell into the passenger seat, dimly wondering what the hell he was doing. He’d just wanted to get Leo to leave, not follow him home like some kind of pathetic stray puppy in need of care and shelter.

The seat was extremely soft and comfortable. Nick let his body sink into it and just sat there, waiting for whatever happened next. It was the middle of the night, and Leo was probably going to have some trouble finding a locksmith so late.

It didn’t seem like much time at all had passed when the other door opened and Leo slid into the driver’s seat. “All right,” he said. “Someone’s coming over to fix it, and a uniform is heading over here to watch the place until it’s done. Let’s go home.”

Nick only mumbled something affirmative, and then leaned his head against the cold window and closed his eyes. He was beginning to shiver a bit again and Leo turned the heater on. After that, Nick just drifted, everything around him fading into a distant mix of car and city noises and the sound of the radio turned on low, and Leo breathing and moving beside him.

Leo shook him awake some time later and Nick blinked his eyes open to find that they were parked in the driveway outside Leo’s house. The light was lit in the kitchen window and Nick was struck by how very nice and cozy it looked. Not to mention warm. 

“Are you awake?” Leo asked softly.

Nick made a small affirmative noise, nodding his head. He didn’t feel much like moving, but he didn’t want to spend the night in the car either. Leo got out, walked around the car, and opened his door for him, and Nick felt a certain pride that he was able to get out all by himself. The short nap had helped a little and he didn’t feel quite as slow and stupid anymore.

“You sure about this?” he asked Leo, mostly for form’s sake. It wasn’t like he was going to go back home now. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Leo grabbed him by the arm and walked him up the garden path to the front door. He opened it and ushered Nick inside before he had the time to protest or come up with any kind of plan for how he was going to play it. 

“We’re home!” Leo shouted into the hallway.

There was a squeal from the kitchen and the sound of small feet came running towards them. Maggie showed up a moment later and threw herself around Leo’s neck, giving him a hug. “Uncle Leo, I missed you!” she exclaimed. 

“Missed you too, Muppet,” Leo laughed, hugging her back. Then he put her down. “I brought a guest, I think you already know him.”

Maggie’s face lit up again. “Nick!” 

It was Nick’s turn to be attacked with a bruisingly hard hug that almost squeezed the air out of his lungs. 

“Maggie,” Leo admonished. “Gently, remember?”

Maggie loosened her grip quickly and looked up at Nick with sudden alarm. “I’m sorry! Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to.”

“You didn’t hurt me,” Nick reassured her, once he’d managed to draw breath again. “Hi, it’s good to see you again.”

“Thank you for saving me,” Maggie said solemnly and held out her hand for Nick to shake. “Is Alyssa coming too? I already thanked her before but I need to do it again properly.”

“I think Alyssa’s probably sleeping right now,” Nick said, a little taken aback, flung into a situation he had no idea how to handle. 

Maggie seemed to take in that information with some amount of dissatisfaction. Then she turned around on her heel and ran back to the kitchen, shouting, “Moooom! Uncle Leo is home and Nick is here too!”

Leo exchanged a look with Nick and shrugged. “She’s pretty much exhausted so naturally she’s climbing the walls because if she sits down she’ll fall asleep.”

“I know the feeling,” Nick muttered, but didn’t have time to say anything else before Linda came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on the red apron she wore around her waist. He tried for a smile and hope he didn’t look like too much of a lunatic. “Hi,” he said. “I don’t mean to intrude, but he didn’t give me any choice.” He pointed at Leo. 

He had no warning at all before Linda too came at him and wrapped him into a warm embrace, her behaviour completely different now from her fury before. “Thank you,” she said in his ear. “Thank you so much for bringing them back to me.”

Nick could feel himself begin to blush and he had no idea what to do with himself. He’d been prepared for anger and accusations, not gratitude. “I wasn’t... it wasn’t...” he stammered, stumbling over his tongue.

Linda let him go and held him out at arm's’ length, studying him. “You look terrible. Are you hungry? Maggie already ate her own weight in bacon but there’s plenty of food left. Please, come inside.”

It was clearly no use trying to argue with her. Nick was too tired to try to come up with any intelligent arguments anyway so he followed her into the kitchen, gently guided by Leo’s warm palm at the small of his back. It was tempting to lean into the touch and Nick figured he could give up on his dignity anyway, so he just let himself be led and placed in a chair by the kitchen table. 

Lovely smells were coming from a covered dish on the table, some kind of casserole from the look of it. Leo lifted the lid and curiously peered inside, while he teased Maggie, who was standing on her knees on another chair, drawing a crayon picture. “Did you save any for me, Muppet?” he asked, tousling her hair. “I’m starving.”

“There’s more than enough for everyone,” Linda said, putting out plates and cutlery on the table. “Do you want something to drink? Maggie finished the milk already, I’ll have to get more tomorrow.”

“Technically, it _is_ tomorrow,” Leo said, shovelling food onto two plates and put one in front of Nick. “Anything is fine as long as it’s not caffeinated.” 

Nick just stared at the enormous helping of food and wondered how he would ever be able to eat it all, but he was far too tired to argue so he picked up a fork and started to eat, slowly and automatically. A conversation of some kind was taking place around him but he found it difficult to concentrate on what was being said, something about Maggie’s school and complicated reports and Lieutenant Zheng. If it was important, it could probably wait.

He managed to eat about half of what Leo had heaped onto his plate before he put his fork away. He couldn’t deny that he was feeling a little better. Having a full belly finally made him feel like he might be able to sleep at some point, and he wasn’t so frightfully cold anymore.

When he looked up, he found that Maggie had fallen asleep at the table. Linda picked the little girl up and carried her off to bed, leaving Nick and Leo alone. Leo had already finished his food and gone for seconds. It was almost three o’clock in the morning and it felt strange to sit here in the kitchen and eat dinner at this time of the night. 

A steaming mug of tea had appeared in front of Nick at some point and he reached for it, didn’t drink any, but used the hot mug to warm his hands. 

“The Lieutenant is going to want to talk to both you and Alyssa tomorrow,” Leo said, waving his fork in Nick’s direction. “People are asking questions all over the place. It’s possible FBI:s organized crime unit will get involved.” He shook his head. “If I’d known it would turn out to be this much of a circus, I never would’ve started digging.”

Nick gave him a skeptical look. “Really?” he asked, disbelieving. “You would’ve left it alone?”

Leo sighed. “No, not really. It’s a lot going on, that’s all. A lot of attention from everywhere. It’s a little overwhelming.”

“You could say that.” Nick snorted wryly into his tea mug. “I kind of feel like I’ve been run over by a mack truck.”

Leo put down his fork and pushed his half-finished plate away, suddenly looking a little sick. “I never meant for anyone to die,” he said. There was something dark and empty in his eyes. Nick could tell that he was probably beating himself up over Fabian’s death. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”

Nick shrugged. “It’s not like anyone’s going to miss him.” When he looked up, he realized that had definitely been the wrong thing to say. “All right,” he backpedalled. “That sounded pretty callous.”

The corner of Leo’s mouth twitched into a grimace. “Yeah, it did.” There was some disapproval on his face, but then it drained away, leaving only sad weariness. “Never mind. It’s late and I’m getting maudlin. It’s just been a really long day.”

“It’s been a long week,” Nick agreed. He had to smother a yawn that almost brought tears to his eyes. He couldn’t believe the last time he’d been so tired.

Leo leaned over the table, resting his head in one large hand while he studied Nick like he held some kind of answer to an intricate question. “D’you regret any of it?” he asked finally. “Anything you’d rather have undone?”

Nick thought back to the first time he’d met Leo, and the night after that. “Thursday night,” he said slowly and watched how Leo tensed up. “How much of that was real? Was I just some mark to you?” 

Leo shook his head, openly sincere. “No, you weren’t a mark. To tell the truth, I’d pretty much given up on the case by that time and I hadn’t planned on going back. But... I couldn’t stay away. I hoped I’d get the chance to talk to you again. Just talk, you know, get to know you a little better. I never really meant for anything else to happen, and when it did...”

“You had to grab the opportunity,” Nick said, meeting his eyes. 

“Yeah.” Leo sighed deeply. “I’m sorry about that. It wasn’t fair to you and I never should’ve done it. The rest? No, not really.” A faint little smile twitched over his face. “I wasn’t wrong, you know. You are a good man, even if you don’t think so yourself. I can’t think of anyone else in your position who would do what you did.”

“Any arrogant bastard out to save his own skin,” Nick cut in. “You’re thinking way too highly of me.”

“I don’t think I am.” Leo gave him an appraising look. “You’re one of a kind, Dominic Vargas. I don’t know if you’re brilliant or insane or just a huge asshole, but you _are_ a good man. I’m glad I got the chance to get to know you. And...” he hesitated, looking down at the scuffed tabletop before he raised his eyes again. “I don’t want this to be goodbye for good.”

Both Nicks heart and his thoughts were racing by now. “You’ve really seen the best of me these past few days,” he said. He couldn’t in good conscience let Leo believe that he was usually this stupidly selfless. “When my life is not in danger, I’m lazy and easily bored and pretty much a jerk to everyone I know. I take my friends for granted and I take advantage of people and I’m...” he took a deep breath. “I’m a mess, Leo. Spend a couple of days with me when we’re not in mortal danger, and you’re going to want to ditch me and forget you ever met me.”

Leo grinned. “Is that an invitation?”

Nick shook his head in exasperation. “Are you always this damn persistent?”

“Yes, I am.” Leo started counting on his fingers. “I’m stubborn and I can’t back down from a challenge. I’m not as much of a boy scout as I pretend to be, and if I’m not careful, I break things. No one’s perfect, man, and I’m pretty sure that if you take the average relationship and break it down, you’ll be left with two messed up people trying to do their best.”

The word _relationship_ hit Nick square in the chest and punched the air from his lungs until he was almost dizzy with it. He struggled to breathe for a split moment and he was pretty sure everything he was feeling right then was plain to see on his face. He looked down into his cooling tea mug, blinking furiously to try to clear his eyes. When he found the strength to look up again, Leo was watching him like he was afraid he’d said something terrible.

“Fabian screwed me up pretty badly,” Nick finally confessed. It was the first time he’d admitted that to anyone, even himself, but he couldn’t hide the truth of it anymore. If Leo really was serious about this, then he needed to know exactly what he was getting into. “I don’t trust easily. Don’t know if I ever will.”

He watched closely for Leo’s reaction, wondering to himself what he would say, what he would do. 

Leo nodded, slowly and solemnly. “As long as you don’t point any more guns at me, I can work with that,” he said, interlacing his fingers. Nick watched his hands, the long blunt fingers and the little cuts and scrapes on his knuckles. Leo looked up again and met his eyes right on. “I’m not suggesting we get married or anything. I just think it’s worth a try.”

Nick had to smother another yawn. “How about we just sleep on it?” he suggested. He was way too tired to discuss this right now. The exhaustion had torn down all the walls he usually had to protect his inner thoughts and he felt completely naked under Leo’s gentle gaze. 

Leo looked like he wanted to say something else, but stopped himself and stood up, not quite successful in hiding a yawn of his own. “I like the sound of that,” he said. “I’ll just tidy up a bit here.” He pointed at the now cold tea in Nick’s hands. “You going to drink that?”

Nick shook his head and handed over the mug. He sat at the table and watched how Leo cleaned away the plates and dishes, put the food in a plastic container and put it in the fridge, and loaded up the dishwasher. He moved Maggie’s drawings and crayons and hid them away in a cupboard. It was quiet and domestic and Nick found that he liked it. Or that might just be because he was about to fall asleep where he was sitting. 

“My bedroom is through that way,” Leo said and pointed in the direction of the front room. “The ladies sleep upstairs. You can have my bed for the night and I’ll crash on the couch.”

Nick stood up, using the table to drag himself to his feet. Even the short trip through the house felt like a ten mile trek through rough terrain.

“Lead the way,” he said.

Leo did, shutting off lights as he went, closing the house down for the night. It was so late it was almost early and the night had wrapped everything in a soft grey blanket.

Leo’s room was plain, but comfortable. There was a navy blue comforter on the king size bed, an old wooden desk in front of the window, a bookshelf with a long row of paperbacks. Nick was tempted to go over and look at the titles, but he couldn’t make his eyes focus right anymore and decided to save it for the morning. 

Leo pulled the cover down and Nick sat down on the edge of the bed. His limbs were heavy and it felt like it would be so easy to just fall backwards there and go to sleep. Leo rummaged around in a drawer for a clean t-shirt and then came to stand in front of Nick, just watching him. It should have felt uncomfortable to be so closely scrutinized, but Nick was too tired to worry about things like that. He didn’t know what compelled him to reach out and take Leo’s hand in his, stroke his fingers over the little grazes on his knuckles. They were already scabbing over and would surely be gone without a trace by morning. 

“I..” Leo begun. “The couch is out there, so I’m just going to...” he trailed off. Nick knew he ought to let Leo go, but he couldn’t bring himself to let go of his hand. 

The silence filled the room, not heavy or stifling now, but peaceful and quiet and a little loaded with something Nick couldn’t put words on. 

“Your hands are still cold,” Leo said.

Nick nodded. “They always are.”

“It’s a little chilly in here. I think we have a space heater somewhere. I could go and get it if you...”

Nick cut him off, stealing his other hand as well, pulling him closer. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing, just that he didn’t want a stupid space heater when Leo was just a few inches away, putting out heat like a furnace. 

“Stay?” he asked. The words were impossibly loud in the quiet room and Leo blinked in surprise. 

“Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t sure. I’m freezing and you’re warm.”

Leo stepped a little closer until he was standing between Nick’s spread legs, looking down on him. “If it’s a hot water bottle you’re after...” he started, grinning impishly.

Nick shook his head. “A hot water bottle only has one use. You’re... multi purpose.” He pulled Leo down to let their lips brush together, almost holding his breath in anticipation of the gentle touch. 

Leo held still for a split moment and then bent down and returned the kiss properly, bringing one scorching hot hand down to caress Nick’s cheek. It felt like he was warming up a little already. He let Leo guide him down onto the bed and felt him follow until they were lying side by side, facing each other. Leo’s bed was soft enough that you could sink into it and Nick could already feel himself drifting off. He reached out for Leo and pulled him closer, wanting to take the opportunity for a few more kisses before he fell asleep. Every time their lips met, it felt like he was thawing a little, finding a warmth inside that he’d thought was long gone, extinguished by Fabian. Leo proved him wrong, over and over again, bringing him out of the ice piece by piece, until he fell asleep between two kisses.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Nick woke several times during the night from vague nightmares that he couldn’t remember, discovered Leo wrapped around him, and went back to sleep. On a few occasions, he heard someone move around upstairs, heard low voices through the ceiling, and came to the conclusion that Maggie was probably having bad dreams too.

It was late morning when he woke up for real and found that he couldn’t go back to sleep, no matter how much he would have liked to. He stayed in bed for a while, tried to doze while he listened to Leo’s soft snores and the steady beat of his heart. 

Things that had seemed so easy and natural last night under the haze of exhaustion suddenly felt a lot more complicated in the morning light. Nick rolled away a little bit, pushed up on his elbow, and studied Leo’s sleeping form beside him.

He was lying on his back, one arm underneath his head and the other stretched out to the side, unconsciously reaching for Nick even in sleep. Sometime during the night, he must have gotten undressed, since he was only wearing his underwear, and he had kicked off the duvet. The bruises on his face and upper body were stark and ugly against his skin. Someone must have applied a fresh dressing to the gash in his side, probably one of the paramedics from last night. He was sleeping hard, not even flinching when Nick carefully reached out to brush his fingers over one of the worst contusions. 

Even bruised and battered like this, Leo was beautiful, infused with a sort of sincere innocence that made the guilt rise in Nick’s stomach. So far, he’d managed to screw up everything he’d ever touched. How long would it take him to do the same to Leo? After everything they had been through together, after having met Leo’s family and seen the deep affection they had for each other, all he really wanted was for Leo to get to keep that happiness. How could there possibly be a place for someone like Nick in his life? 

He was struck by the urge to just slide out of bed and slip away before someone had a chance to notice he was missing. He should just go back home and keep living his own life without any outside involvement. 

And ten minutes later, Leo would probably turn up at his door again, unable to take the hint.

Besides, he didn’t _want_ to leave. The past week had been a roller coaster ride of up and downs. Nick still felt like hell, and he thought that he deserved to have just this small moment of pretense before he had to face reality again.

Leo’s lips twitched and his eyes moved under his closed eyelids. “I can hear you thinking from here,” he said, cracking his eyes open a little bit. “Stop it.”

Nick smiled and leaned down over him, pressing their lips together in a kiss, pretending to be someone who was actually allowed to have this. “I’m a cerebral kind of guy,” he mumbled against Leo’s lips, and felt him grin in return. 

“What time is it?”

Nick checked. “Almost nine.”

“Hmmm.” Leo grunted and turned over on his side, reaching out for Nick. “Too early. C’mere.”

It was tempting to just roll into Leo’s arms and stay there, but there were more pressing matters to consider. “I’d love to,” Nick said. “But my back teeth are floating.”

Leo snorted out a little laugh and let him go. “Bathroom’s next door,” he said and yawned. “‘m going back to sleep.”

Leo’s bathroom was neat and carefully organized, just like his bedroom. Towels hung on their hooks and bottles of soap and shampoo, generic stuff with a store brand name, stood in a tidy row on the shelf inside the shower stall. Nick took care of business and washed his hands, taking a quick look in the bathroom cabinet as he did so. A single toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. Razor and shaving foam. Deodorant and after shave. A packet of band-aids, but no medication of any kind, not even aspirin.

Suddenly he felt guilty for snooping, like he still suspected Leo was keeping secrets from him. He knew that the wariness he’d cultivated all his life had crossed the line from healthy to unhealthy paranoia around the same time he started working for Fabian, and it was going to be a hard habit to shake. He didn’t even know if he _should_ shake it. By now, the word had to be out that he had struck a deal with the cops. Fabian might have been the biggest shark in the sea that was Chicago’s underworld, but he was by no means the only one. People were going to see Nick as a traitorous rat now and he would have to take measures to keep his back free. He had no idea what was going to happen now. Would he be forced to go into some kind of witness protection program? Nick wasn’t too fond of that idea. His name and identity might not be much, but at present it was pretty much all he had. 

It was too early to worry. Nick splashed a little water on his face and inspected the damage in the mirror. He was unshaven and his skin was pale and the dark circles under his eyes told a tale of far too little sleep. He’d have to go home and shower and change clothes before he could meet with anyone important, like Lieutenant Zheng and her superiors. He had no intention of going there and looking like death warmed over if he could help it. 

He heard someone coming down the stairs and decided not to linger any longer in the bathroom. When he came out, he met Linda in the hallway. She was dressed in pyjamas and a fuzzy white robe and her short hair was in disarray, still rumpled with sleep. 

“Good morning,” she said, hiding a yawn behind her hand. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, thank you.” Nick nodded. “I was just about to...” he trailed off, glancing at the front door, looking for an escape route.

Linda studied him, both hands on her hips. “Is Leo still asleep?” she asked. 

“Yes. Yes, he is.”

“No surprise there.” She frowned a little bit. “Best just let him sleep, or I’ll have to deal with two grouches later today. Maggie was up half the night.” Then her eyes narrowed. “I assume you weren’t going to do something stupid like leaving without saying goodbye?”

Nick stuttered out a negative while he found himself being herded into the kitchen. 

“That’s good.” Linda bid him to sit down at the table, opened the fridge and started taking out vegetables and eggs. “No one leaves this house without breakfast. What would you like?”

Nick felt a little bit like the truck from yesterday had made a u-turn to run him over again. “I... I think I’m still full from last night,” he confessed. “I wouldn’t mind some coffee though.”

Linda tutted, studying him. “You’re thin as a rail. We’ll have to feed you up a bit, all right? Just get used to it, mister. I cook for fun and profit, and I have a brother and a daughter whose food account probably parallels the state budget for a small country. Anyway, coffee coming up! Just so you know, I’m only waiting on you because you look so miserable right now, we usually share the chores around here.” Then she turned around, facing the doorway. “Good morning, sweetie! What do you want for breakfast?”

Maggie came shuffling in, looking like she’d just rolled out of bed, tired and a little grumpy. “Pancakes,” she said. “And bacon and hash browns and strawberry syrup.”

“Both pancakes _and_ hash browns?” Linda smiled, ruffling her hair, and Maggie quickly wrapped her arms around her head and glared at her mother. “All right, all right, just today. Don’t make a habit of it, young lady.”

Maggie walked into the kitchen and climbed up on a chair on the other side of the table. She was in her nightwear too, something pink with Hello Kitty on it, and she kept yawning and rubbing her eyes before she seemed to discover Nick. Leo’s smile had to run in the family, because it lit up the entire room. “Good morning!” she said brightly. 

“Morning,” Nick said, smiling back. The kid seemed to be incredibly resilient. He’d really like to get to know her better. 

She studied him for a while, her blue eyes gleaming with curiosity. “Are you uncle Leo’s boyfriend now?” she asked, finally. 

Nick choked on his answer and had to cough before he could breathe again. He half expected Linda to cut in to admonish her daughter, but she stayed at the counter, whisking eggs. Her shoulders were a little tense, like she was just as interested in the answer as Maggie was.

“I’m not sure,” Nick had to admit. It seemed like a very impertinent question to ask at this time of the morning. 

Maggie leaned her chin on her entwined fingers and tilted her head, looking at him. “I think you should be,” she concluded. 

“Yeah? Why is that?” 

She pursed her lips and stuck her chin out. “Because he’s lonely. He needs a boyfriend. Uncle Leo always looks after everyone else and he should have someone who looks after him.”

Linda turned around. “Honey, why don’t you go get dressed and I’ll have your breakfast ready when you’re done. Don’t forget to wash your hands.”

“Okay!” Maggie jumped down from the chair and ran off again, leaving Nick and Linda alone in the kitchen. Nick smiled and gave her a look that he hoped conveyed something along the lines of, ‘kids, huh?’

She looked more serious and thoughtful than amused and that made Nick more than a little apprehensive. He had a feeling that Linda was just as stubborn as her brother.

“I know Leo’s all grown up now, but he’s still my baby brother,” she said. She’d been slicing up vegetables and was holding a large chef knife in her hand. “Sometimes, he’s not very smart when it comes to relationships. He trusts people far too easily.”

_And I don’t trust them enough,_ Nick thought to himself. _What a pair we make._ To Linda, he said, “Yes, I’ve noticed.”

She fastened her very blue gaze on him. “I’d just like you to keep in mind that I make my living handling extremely sharp Japanese steel,” she said, neatly slicing into a tomato for emphasis. “Also, if you hurt him, I will bash your head in with a cast iron skillet.” It was said with a bright smile, but Nick had no doubt that she meant every word.

He held up his hands, palms out. “All right. Message received.” He paused. “It’s not like I’m _planning_ to hurt him. It’s just... complicated.”

Linda shrugged her shoulders. “So un-complicate it.” She waved the knife around so little drops of tomato juice splattered all over the counter. “Seriously, Greg and me, that was a once in a lifetime thing. I’ll never see him again for as long as I live and I’ll never meet anyone else like him. Watching other people screwing around and being stupid when it comes to love makes me angry.” The knife made another little loop in the air before she went back to the vegetables.

Nick stayed at the table, thinking that over for a little while. He’d almost forgotten that Linda was a widow, but the fact helped put things in perspective.

After a while, he got coffee, which made the morning much better. He sat at the table and sipped the hot aromatic beverage and poked a little at the plate of pancakes Linda put down in front of him and ordered him to eat. When Maggie came back, dressed and washed, he spent some time talking to her about school and her friends. She was clever for her age, something he already knew, and she was clearly a tough and opinionated kid. Talking to her made him want to spend more time in her company, just for the sheer enjoyment of being near someone so young and undestroyed. It had been so long since Nick had been there. He’d almost forgotten what life was like when you were that age, how the whole world was spread out in front of you, ready to be explored. 

Some time later, Leo came padding out into the kitchen, barefoot and dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He yawned and stretched and when he caught sight of Nick, his face lit up in that bright happy smile that Nick felt like he was beginning to get a little addicted to. 

“You’re still here,” Leo said with a pleased tone as he sat down on the chair next to Nick and promptly appropriated the rest of the pancakes. 

Nick shrugged and used his finger to scoop up a little strawberry syrup. It was almost cloyingly sweet, but worth it when he licked his finger and saw how Leo’s gaze was immediately drawn to his mouth. “I guess I am,” he said. “I’ll have to go back home sooner or later though. When are we supposed to meet your boss?”

“There’s a debriefing set for three o’clock. I have to do some work before then though, write up a preliminary report and talk to a few people. You can borrow some clothes if you want. I’m not that much taller than you.”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “That may be true, but I’d still drown in your clothes. I’m not going into a room full of cops looking like a charity case. I want my own stuff.”

“Okay.” Leo relented. “I’ll drive you back later. We should probably pick up Alyssa as well.” He turned to Linda. “Did you get an appointment?”

She nodded and took away Maggie’s empty plate. “We’re seeing Dr Drumlin at eleven o’clock so we should get ready. Come on, sweetheart, go brush your teeth and get your things.” She turned to Nick, explaining, “Dr Drumlin is one of the counsellors at Glenn Academy. She helps children who have trouble with their abilities. I’m not sure this qualifies, but it was the best we could do on such short notice.” Linda leaned back against the kitchen counter and watched her daughter skip away. She sighed. “Seriously, how do you help your child deal with being kidnapped in order to be experimented on? What were they going to _do_ to her?”

“I don’t know.” Nick scowled at the thought. “I’m not sure I _want_ to know. But I wasn’t privy to that information.”

“We have Dr Mathers in custody,” Leo said reassuringly. “We’ll make sure to get the whole story out of him.

Linda didn’t look any less upset, but accepted the answer. 

She left with Maggie a little bit later. Leo made short work of the rest of the breakfast and Nick drank some more coffee while he watched him eat, a little amazed over how much food he managed to put away. Nick felt full just looking at him. 

They cleaned away the remains of the meal together, reaching around each other to get at plates and empty juice glasses. It felt good, the kind of normal comfortable closeness that Nick figured proper families had. He couldn’t quite shake the feeling of playing a role, pretending to be Joe Average who did this every morning. Here, together with Leo, it was a role that he might possibly be able to slip into and wear like a second skin until it became permanent. 

Nick wandered into the front room while Leo put away the last plates. He turned on the TV and found the news, curious to see if there were any reports from the Frost Spire, how much information had been released to the public. 

He had half expected it, but it was still a bit of a shock when a huge picture of Fabian was splashed over the entire screen. It had been taken a couple of years ago at some event or another and Nick just sat there on the couch staring at the familiar face, the eyes that could turn from glittering with mirth to cloudy and angered in the blink of an eye, that wide charming smile that could so easily quirk into a cruel grin.

Fabian was gone. Nick hadn’t really realized it until now. That huge storm cloud over his head had vanished and could never bother him again. It was such an enormous relief, and at the same time, it almost made him feel a little sad. Fabian had died a washed-out imitation of the man he’d been. Nick wasn’t sure that panicked, pathetic, desperate man was the one he wanted to remember. If he wanted to remember Fabian at all. 

He was so focused on the TV and the babbling reporter that he barely noticed Leo coming up behind him. It was first when Leo stretched out and grabbed the remote from the arm of the couch to turn off the TV that Nick managed to tear his eyes away from the screen. 

“I was watching that,” he said, less affronted than he wanted to sound. 

“Well, let’s not,” Leo said. “It’s going to be all over the news for days anyway. I don’t want to think about it right now.”

Nick looked past him, at the empty screen, like Fabian’s picture was still plastered there. “Is it weird that I miss him?” he asked, before he had time to stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth.

Leo sat down on the couch beside him, turning the remote over and over in his hands. He sighed deeply, staring down into the floor. “I don’t know. A little?” He glanced up at Nick, uncertain, hesitant. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I never meant...”

“No apologizing,” Nick told him, once again. How many times was he going to have remind Leo of that? “Definitely not for... I didn’t mean it like that.”

Leo made a weird little tilt with his head, an almost unconscious gesture of uneasiness. Nick was beginning to learn how to read him now, and he was pretty sure this was Leo brooding. Nick didn’t like the look, and he liked the fact that it was because of him even less. 

“It was an accident,” he said. “I know and you know that if there had been anything you could have done to save his life, you would have done it. You’re not a killer, Leo.”

“I don’t know.” Leo kept squeezing the remote control. If he gripped it any harder, he would crack the plastic casing. “Isn’t that what I was supposed to be? What Zarathustra was all about?”

“Well,” Nick said, carefully reaching out to ease the poor remote out of Leo’s hands and replace it with his own fingers, grasping tight. “My implant was supposed to help the disabled. Not everything turns out the way it was supposed to be. It’s all about what you decide to do with it.”

That didn’t seem to do anything to chase away the sadness and regret on Leo’s face, and Nick decided to let his actions speak instead. He leaned in to kiss Leo, as gently as he could. Leo barely reacted at first, but a few breaths later, he returned the kiss, let go of Nick’s hand to let his fingers slide up into his hair. He kissed like he wanted to get completely lost in it and forget everything else, and Nick was more than happy to provide that escape from terrible thoughts. 

This time, it wasn’t new and awkward, and it wasn’t quick and rough and desperate. They had time, they didn’t have anywhere else to be, and there were no secrets clogging up the space between them. Nick got the opportunity to find out exactly how Leo liked it, how a little nip of teeth along the soft swell of his lip drew a moan from his throat, how he liked to alternate between deep and wet, and short butterfly kisses to catch his breath in between. 

The position was a little difficult and Nick decided to just slide over and straddle Leo’s thighs, ending up in his lap. He could feel Leo already getting hard against him and that added to Nick’s own arousal, made him grind down against Leo’s erection and smile a little bit at the deep content groan that got him. 

Leo kept kissing him, running his big hands in large circles over Nick’s back, and Nick slid his fingers inside Leo’s t-shirt and helped him out of it. In daylight, his bruises looked ghastly and he carefully ran his fingers around the edge of one of the bigger ones. 

“Does it hurt?” he asked. 

Leo’s wince was almost unnoticeable. “A little,” he answered, but he didn’t move Nick’s hands away. “I heal fast. Give it a couple of days and you won’t even know they were there.”

The bruise was black and blue and a little swollen, and the size and shape of it brought Nick to an awful conclusion. 

“This is a boot print, isn’t it?”

Leo snorted. “Let’s just say I gave as good as I got. Better even, since there were six of them and only one of me.”

Nick met his eyes, studied them closely for any sign of deception, but he couldn’t see any. Part of him really wanted to see that fight. It must have been sensational. He’d had to try to get hold of the security tapes from the Spire. 

“If it’s any consolation, I’ve got enough dirt on every man on the security team to put them away for years,” he said, pressing another kiss to Leo’s lips. Then he turned his attention to the still bandaged cut over his side ribs. “What about this?”

Leo grinned. “It’s healing fine. Chrissie did a great job. Are you going to go over every little scrape I’ve got? Because in that case, we’ll be here all day.”

“Maybe I am,” Nick muttered against his lips, but he left the rest of Leo’s injuries alone. He let Leo get him out of his own t-shirt instead and shivered a little bit as the cold air hit his skin.

“Too cold?” Leo asked, with a little frown of concern. 

Nick shook his head, and the next time he shivered, it was because Leo was kissing and licking his nipples, nagging them a little with his teeth. If he hadn’t been fully hard before, he definitely was now, and he couldn’t help thrusting a little bit against Leo’s stomach. He was beginning to leak a little inside his underwear. 

He got to his feet and shimmied out of the pants, leaving them on the floor, and then stood naked in front of Leo, who was watching him like he was something beautiful and worthy of awe. 

“You really have no idea what you’re doing to me, do you?” Leo asked and reached out for him, pulling him closer. He was pressing kisses all the way from his throat, over his chest and stomach, only stopping on the way down to swirl his tongue around in Nick’s bellybutton. It made him let out a sound that was definitely not a giggle. 

His cock was straining up, almost like it was reaching for Leo. Nick was getting a impatient while Leo took the time to nose around the edge of his pubic hair, breathing hot air over his skin. 

“Are you going to make me beg?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow as Leo looked up at him with a self-satisfied expression. 

“I was thinking about it, actually,” Leo admitted, licking his tongue around his lips, wetting them with saliva. He looked indecent, and Nick wanted to feel that mouth around his cock, preferably now. He slid one hand into Leo’s hair and held it there, rubbing tiny circles into his scalp.

“Please,” he breathed. “I want your mouth.”

Leo only smiled, blew another puff of hot air over the head of Nick’s cock, and then leaned down to lick around the head, swirling around in a move that made Nick’s knees buckle. Leo’s hands came up to grip his ass and lend him a little support. Nick closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing, trying not to come straight away. 

Leo went slowly and he clearly enjoyed teasing. He took Nick deep and then pulled off entirely, held his head just inches from his dick until Nick had to plead with him to do it again. When he ran one of his hands over Nick’s cheek and down the cleft of his ass, ghosting over his hole, Nick had to restrain himself from choking him, and then pressed back against his fingers, begging wordlessly. 

He looked down at Leo and swallowed hard, watching his wet swollen lips, and Leo met his look, smiled wickedly around his cock, and slipped two fingers into his mouth beside it. He got them good and wet and then moved them back again, rubbing them against Nick’s hole, while he looked up, both eyebrows raised. 

“This okay?”

“Yes. Please.”

The feeling of Leo’s fingers slowly sliding into his ass made Nick have to put his hands on Leo’s shoulders so he wouldn’t fall over. That would completely kill the mood. Leo moved them slowly out and in, opening him up, and when he found Nick’s prostate and gently rubbed the spot, Nick thought he was going to black out from pleasure, thrusting eagerly in and out of Leo’s mouth. 

He couldn’t think of anything but the sensation, the little shivers of arousal running up and down his spine, and Leo’s closed eyes and faint moans while he sucked Nick down, working his mouth around him. He looked like he was enjoying himself, caught up in the moment.

Nick was getting close, far too close. Part of him just wanted to let go and shoot his load down Leo’s throat, but he also wanted more, didn’t want it to end yet, not until he had Leo naked and hard inside him. 

He cupped Leo’s cheek and pulled him off, gasping when the cold air hit his cock. Leo stilled his fingers and looked up, a little frown of concern on his face. “Too much?” he asked. 

Nick smiled shakily. “Too good,” he answered. “I’m about to come and I want you to fuck me first.”

Leo’s eyes turned very dark, pupils almost entirely dilated. “I’ve wanted to do that since he first time I met you.” Then he patted his pockets with a look of dismay and pointed in the direction of his bathroom. “I’ll have to get some...”

“You do that.” Nick grabbed the fleece blanket that was hanging over one arm of the couch and spread it over the cushions. He sank down on it, legs spread wide, cock straining against his belly. “Hurry up, or I’ll start without you.”

To be honest, he needed a little time to calm down, or he was going to go off the moment Leo touched him. He lay there naked, breathing deep and staring up into the ceiling. He was pretty sure there was a stupid little smile on his mouth and couldn’t bring himself to care. This was all so good and he couldn’t understand what he’d done to deserve it. He must have done something right. Or maybe it was all a beautiful wet dream that was going to disappear the moment he woke up. 

Then Leo was back, a bottle of lube and a condom in a foil packet in his hand. “Good thinking,” he said, pointing at the blanket. “Linda will kill us if we get stains on the couch.”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “Leo, I really like your sister, but she also scares me a little and can we please not talk about her while we’re having sex?”

Leo laughed and knelt in front of him on the floor, sliding out of his pants and underwear. “She gave you the cast iron skillet speech, didn’t she? But point taken.”

He coated his fingers liberally with lube and slid them back into Nick’s ass. Nick clenched down around them, enjoying the feeling of being filled and spread open. He had to fist his fingers in the blanket and he was pretty sure he was making noises that he’d be embarrassed to remember later. 

“I love watching you like this,” Leo whispered, pressing kisses against the inside of his thigh. “You’re completely shameless, aren’t you?”

He’d heard those words before, from Fabian’s lips, and almost expected to be thrown back in time and right out of the mood. But the phrase that had been disparaging from Fabian sounded fond and affectionate from Leo’s mouth, and Nick found himself almost laughing. “Why don’t you keep going and find out?” he managed to get out, surprised that he was still capable of forming coherent words. 

Leo grinned wickedly, gripped his thighs and spread them even wider, and then pulled him down a little bit on the couch until his ass was almost hanging off the edge. Nick half expected him to take his cock in his mouth again, but Leo dove in deeper, mouthed at his balls, and then licked around his asshole, letting his tongue slip inside in short, hot thrusts. 

Nick must have made some kind of sound, because the next moment, a shout was echoing against the walls. For the next couple of minutes, he couldn’t think at all. His entire world had shrunk down to Leo’s tongue in his ass, Leo’s hands holding his legs apart, the grip of Leo’s fingers where there would probably be bruises later. It was so good that he started to worry he was going to have a stroke or something. There was no way his body could handle so much pleasure at once. 

When he started to push back down, fucking himself on Leo’s tongue, he’d more or less decided that the rest could wait. He was going to come like this, right here and now. That was when Leo withdrew and sat back on his haunches, ignoring Nick’s loud protests. There was so much heat in his eyes that the room could have caught on fire. 

“Move over,” Leo said, guiding him around until he was lying lengthwise on the couch, his head resting on a throw pillow. Leo climbed up and knelt between Nick’s legs, rolling the condom down over his erection. 

Nick spread his knees, opening up for Leo and moaned as he felt the blunt head of his cock press against his opening. He pushed back, impatient, and felt how it slowly pressed inside, filling him. He gasped at the feeling, bore down and clenched around Leo, and when he relaxed, Leo just slid the whole way in, his balls snug against Nick’s ass. Leo breathed heavily, eyes closed and squeezed shut, and he held himself tight and tense, like it was taking everything he had to not just let go and pound into Nick. He wouldn’t have minded that so much, couldn’t wait for Leo to start moving. When he arched his back and pushed down, urging Leo on, Leo slowly sank down to rest his forehead against Nick’s shoulder. 

“Just give me a minute,” he muttered, his voice a little shaky. “You feel so good. I don’t want to come yet.”

He stayed like that for a few breaths and Nick stilled, getting used to the feeling of Leo’s length and girth inside him. He fit perfectly, like they had been made for each other, and the closeness and intimacy of the whole situation made it even better. 

Nick’s body was getting more impatient though, begging for attention, and soon, he couldn’t help but start moving again, squirming a little bit around Leo. Leo gasped and thrust back, bottoming out inside him, so hard that Nick slid up a few inches on the couch. 

Leo pressed kisses against his lips and his jaw. “How do you want it?” he breathed. His voice was strained and Nick could tell that he was holding himself back. That wouldn’t do.

“Hard,” he said, pulling Leo down for another bruising kiss. “Hard and fast. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt me.”

Leo pulled back just a little bit. He was almost holding his breath, his shoulders shaking a little bit with the effort. “I could,” he said, and there was a hint of fear in his voice now. “I _could_ hurt you, Nick.”

“But you won’t.” Nick canted his hips up, forcing Leo to move and the friction made them both moan. “That’s what makes it so good,” he added with a smile. All that power, that muscle, it was more the potential that did it for him. The knowledge that Leo could do anything he wanted, that there would be nothing Nick could do to stop him if he decided to actually go for it, that thought was incredibly hot, and made Nick’s cock twitch against Leo’s stomach. 

Leo started to move inside him, slowly and gently at first, but when he noticed how Nick opened up, spread himself out, and just took his thrusts with no complaints, his entire body asking for more, it was like something loosened inside him. He rose up on his knees and pulled Nick’s hips up into his lap, folded him almost in half, and started pounding into him with a pace just this side of brutal. 

It was amazing. All Nick could do was wrap his arms around Leo’s shoulders and hold on, ride the cresting wave of sensation. Every other stroke hit his prostate and sent shivering shocks through him and it didn’t take long until he was on the edge of coming. He usually couldn’t get there without a touch on his cock, and he could tell that it was probably not going to be any different this time, but just the thought of being able to come only from being fucked by Leo added another dimension to the pleasure. 

He held on and let himself get lost in it until he just couldn’t take it anymore, until he had to let himself come or risk going crazy from the overwhelming feeling of it. He got one hand around his cock, felt how Leo was lifting him even higher until only his shoulders were resting on the cushions. He jerked himself hard and fast, matched his strokes to Leo’s thrusts inside him, and then he felt the wave build and build until it came rolling over him, crashing down and taking him with it. He came and came, spilling over his own fingers and stomach. Leo fucked him through the orgasm, every stroke inside him sending bright sparks of pleasure from his groin all the way up through his spine to the top of his head. 

It wasn’t until he was coming down, floating back to the surface while trying to catch his breath, that he noticed that the sparks hadn’t been just in his imagination. A faint smell of fried electronics was filling the room. Leo had stilled inside him and let him down into his lap again, his head turned towards the TV-bench. 

Nick followed his gaze and saw how the numbers on the DVD display were going nuts. “Whoa,” he muttered. “That hasn’t happened in a while.” 

Leo’s eyebrows were scrunched up in a disbelieving frown. “Did you just short out the DVD?” he asked. He sounded like he was about to start laughing. 

Nick just couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about it, not when he felt so amazingly good, and he could still feel Leo, hard and urgent inside him. “I’ll fix it later, I promise,” he said. “Go on, I want to feel you come.”

Leo turned back to him, the DVD forgotten. “You sure?” he asked, moving into him again in a slow experimental thrust. “You’re not too sore?”

He was, really. Leo’s cock sliding over his over-sensitive insides was almost too much, sending delicious shivers through his whole body, the pleasure almost bordering on pain. “A little,” he admitted, but refused to let Leo stop. “It’s okay, I like it.”

“Oh yeah?” Leo thrust into him again, prompting another set of shakes. “What else do you like?”

He was talking mostly for his own sake now, Nick could tell, needing that last push to bring him tumbling over the edge. Nick was happy to provide it for him. 

“I like being pushed,” he said, his voice low and husky in Leo’s ear. “I like pushing back, finding the limits and crossing them. I like it when you leave marks can touch later and remember.” 

Leo buried his face against Nick’s neck with a desperate little sound and his hips stuttered, so Nick kept going. “I like to be held down, I like to be split open and taken apart and I like it when I can feel it for days afterwards, every time I sit down. I like how you can just throw me around and hold me up like I don’t weigh anything.” He clenched down hard, felt how Leo was speeding up, chasing his orgasm with quiet determination. “I trust you,” he whispered in Leo’s ear, almost a little surprised to discover that he meant it. “I trust you to do all those things to me and not think any less of me afterwards.”

Leo cried out something wordless that got lost against Nick’s skin, and then he stilled, perfectly frozen for a second, before he came, shuddering. Nick held him tight, eased him through it, and ran his fingers through Leo’s hair while he shook through the aftershocks. 

They lay silent for a long time, just breathing together, sweat and come drying on their skin. Leo turned his head for a few more long, slow kisses while he caught his breath, and Nick just enjoyed feeling his heavy weight on top of him, warm and safe. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had that together with someone, couldn’t remember if he’d ever felt this way. All he did know was that he was not planning to let this go. It wasn’t an option anymore. Whatever lay ahead of them, whatever difficulties they were going to face in the near future, Nick was firmly resolved to see them through.

“I’m done thinking it over,” he said, the words almost getting lost against Leo’s skin. 

Leo looked up at him, hair ruffled and lips swollen with kisses. His eyes were still hooded and dark with pleasure and he almost looked a little sleepy, like he wouldn’t have minded curling up on top of Nick for a nap. “Yeah?” he sounded a little bit anxious, not quite ready to hear the answer, but wanting it anyway.

“Yeah,” Nick echoed. “Let’s give it a try. If you think you can live with me.”

Leo grinned at him, his face lit up in that happy smile, like he’d just been given the most precious gift imaginable. “Oh, I think I can,” he said, kissing Nick again, deep and thorough, with unbridled joy.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The debriefing was held in a conference room instead of in Lieutenant Zheng’s office. Nick was extremely happy that there had been time for him to go home and change into something more business-like before the meeting. He still felt like he was out of his depth and he could feel all the eyes on him, all the appraising looks, equal amounts curiosity and suspicion. He was sitting by Leo’s side at the large table, and he wished that he’d just be able to reach out and take Leo’s hand under the tabletop. 

Alyssa was sitting on his other side, looking tired and a little hungover. Nick had initially felt guilty about leaving her alone in the aftermath of Ev’s death and the visit to Frost Spire, but she’d promptly cuffed him over the head again and told him not to be stupid. She had spent the night at her mothers’ place together with Darla, getting roaring drunk and sleeping it off. When Nick and Leo had come by to pick her up at two o’clock in the afternoon, she’d just managed to crawl out of bed. 

Now, she was watching the police brass with poorly disguised hostility, clearly wondering if she was going to be in trouble. Both Leo and Lieutenant Zheng had assured her and Nick that it wasn’t going to be the case, given how their involvement had helped resolve the situation.

On the other side of the table were two Bureau chiefs, the Deputy Superintendent, and an FBI agent who had turned up out of nowhere. It was like being in front of an inquisition. Nick felt like he was about to crawl out of his own skin and he couldn’t wait to get out of the room and let it all be over with. 

The higher-ups had read over Leo’s report, asked him for clarifications on some details and asked him to elaborate on others. There was going to be an investigation into Fabian’s death, they said, but it was mostly a formality and he was bound to be cleared of any suspicion of foul play. Nick almost wanted to laugh out loud at that. The implication that Leo would even be capable of foul play was ridiculous. Lieutenant Zheng seemed to agree with that, because she held her lips pursed in a wry grimace the entire time the matter was being discussed. 

Of course, that didn’t help keep the guilty look off Leo’s face. Nick wanted to grab his hand again, offer some comfort, but didn’t dare to with all the high and mighty people in the room. They probably weren’t going to look blithely on something like that. What was the protocol on police officers getting involved with their CI:s anyway? There was probably some kind of rule against it. 

Nick hadn’t been asked to leave a written report, but they were grilling him about every little detail that had happened during the past week. He tried hard to figure out how much information he should leave regarding his contacts. He refused to give them the Librarian and received a few dark looks, but he remained adamant on the matter. If he talked about her to the police, he was going to end up in bigger trouble than he’d been in his entire life. Luckily, It turned out the information he’d kept on Fabian’s operation was enough to buy him out of that little dilemma. The FBI-agent, a platinum blonde woman by the name of Bloom, was almost ecstatic over it and wanted to know if there was more where that came from.

The Deputy Superintendent was mostly listening, while the two Bureau Chiefs seemed to be involved in some kind of internal power struggle. One, Reese, was head of the Bureau of Organized Crime. He was a big fat man with beginning baldness and indigestion, if the way he kept hiding his burps and rubbing his big stomach was any indication. Garner, of the Bureau of Detectives, was a slick man in his early forties, dressed in a suit that he couldn’t possibly have been able to afford on a cop’s salary. Nick wondered if he’d been one of Fabian’s bought cops. That would explain why the Popsicle killer investigation had never gotten anywhere. In any case, he looked relieved now, like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. 

“Frank Shane has been talking our ears off,” Chief Reese said, tapping his pencil against the table. “He wants to cut a deal, give us everything he knows in return for immunity. We’re just trying to figure out if he actually has anything new to offer.” He gave Nick a curious look. 

Nick shrugged. “It figures he’d be trying to cover his own ass. To be honest, Frank’s small potatoes. He liked to think of himself as one of the big players but he never had the guts. When it boils down to it, he’s no less of a thug than Lonnie is.”

“Yes, Lonnie Leblanc.” Chief Garner cut in. “He claims you ran him over with a car, is that true?”

“Self defence,” Leo piped in, before Nick had time to open his mouth. 

Reese and Garner exchanged a look, and then Garner continued, “Well, Leblanc is facing a rather lengthy hospital stay before he can be sent to prison. However, it appears that most of his injuries have been made worse by his own fault. His lawyer wants him to press charges but, um...” he looked at Alyssa, “It appears he’s not actually willing to tell us all about everything that happened, so I don’t think there will be any assault charges.”

“There better not be,” Alyssa muttered. 

“Counting your testimony in the abduction case, I certainly don’t believe so,” Reese added. 

Leo raised a hand. “What about Dr Mathers. Has he said anything about what he wanted with Maggie?”

The police officers gave Special Agent Bloom a speculative glance. “Dr Mathers has been passed over to FBI jurisdiction,” said Reese. He didn’t sound too happy about it. 

“Yes, that’s correct.” Agent Bloom tucked a strand of her long blonde hair back behind her ear and stopped leafing through the folder of files in front of her. “We believe his involvement in this is a lot bigger than it seems at first glance. Some of our forensic scientists are going through what was left on the computers in the lab right now.” She gave Nick an accusing look. “It would have helped if we could have taken part of that information. Right now, only guesswork remains. I don’t suppose there’s any way to reconstruct the data?”

Nick spread his arms, not ready to apologize for anything connected to the destruction of that particular piece of evidence. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said, not saying that he didn’t have much hope of being able to get much of it back. When he erased data, it tended to stay erased. “I couldn’t let any of it end up in the wrong hands. We didn’t even know if we’d be able to get out of there alive, so I decided not to take my chances.”

“And what about Gina Blackburn?” asked Special Agent Bloom. “Any idea where she disappeared off to?” 

“None at all.” Nick shook his head. “She did imply that someone else was pulling Fabian’s strings though, and I’m inclined to agree. All this...” he paused, gesturing at the heaps of files covering the table. “It’s not Fabian’s style. It’s too big. He was a lot of things, but a megalomaniac? No. I’m willing to bet he didn’t come up with this idea on his own.”

Bloom nodded and made a note of something on a piece of paper. “All right, we’ll look into that. So, this exploitation of special abilities, all this was news to you?”

Nick shrugged. “It wasn’t anything he was working on thirteen months ago when I left his... employment,” he said delicately. “If it’s an outside influence, it has to be someone he came in contact with during the past year.”

“We have a lot of information to sift through,” Reese said, turning to Nick. “Mr Vargas, we were hoping you’d be able to help us shed light over some of it. There is also the matter of buried evidence in other investigations that I’ve been told you might be able to... unbury.”

There were plenty of things he’d hoped would never see the light of day, things Nick had wanted to keep to himself, but he’d promised Leo he would cooperate, so he nodded in agreement. “I’ll take a look at it.” 

Most of all, he just wanted it to be over, to leave the bothersome cleanup to the professionals, but he couldn’t deny that he did have the particular skills and knowledge that would make that process a lot easier. 

They seemed to be content with that and the meeting was adjourned. Lieutenant Zheng asked Leo to stay behind to discuss some police business and Nick and Alyssa left the room. Special Agent Bloom quickly gathered up her folders and followed in their footsteps. 

“Are you okay?” Alyssa asked quietly when they were outside in the hallways, hunched together in a corner out of the way. Nick hoped they weren’t being watched by too many people. He didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself than strictly necessary, especially not now when he’d just played a crucial part in bringing down one of the most powerful crime bosses Chicago had ever seen. 

“A little shaky,” Nick had to admit. He was reeling, not ready to believe yet that it was actually over and that he might have a chance to start a life out of Fabian’s shadow. Of course, there was a lot of things unresolved still. The question of who had been pulling Fabian’s strings weighed heavily on his mind. Sooner or later, it was probably going to come back to bite him in the ass. He’d have to make contingency plans, figure out how to keep everyone around him safe. 

“I talked to Ev’s father last night,” Alyssa told him, hanging her head in a way that made Nick suspect it hadn’t been an easy conversation. “It kind of made me understand why he decided to come to Chicago in the first place. If I’d been living with that old fart, I would’ve taken the first flight out as soon as I could.”

“I take it he’s not grieving too much?” Nick asked, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder, give her what little comfort he could.

“You could say that.” Alyssa snorted in disdain. “More like insisting that he never had a son to begin with. I keep forgetting that not everyone has a family like I do. If Mom ever heard anyone talk like that about me, she’d smack them good.”

Nick thought about Alyssa’s family, who had pulled up roots and moved over a whole continent to give her the best possible childhood they could. He thought about Maggie, who had all the support she could wish for to grow up into a strong, confident young woman. They were the lucky ones. There were always going to be people who viewed those with special abilities as freaks and mutants, who would be scared of them. 

People like Fabian, who used their abilities to strike terror into the world, would only make it worse. How many Chicagoans had watched his reign from afar, certain that it was the only way to use a special ability? It made Nick a little sick to remember that he’d been one of the ones who’d helped strike fear into people. He might not have been the most visible, but what he had done, changing files and records, burying evidence, playing around with numbers, had still helped make the problem worse. At least he had the chance now to make up for it. 

They stood there for a while, talking about this and that, discussing the Showroom, talking about Everett’s funeral, how he would have wanted people to remember him. Nick kept checking the time, wondering what was taking Leo so long and hoping he wasn’t in trouble. There were certainly things that had happened during the past few days that police officers weren’t supposed to get involved in. 

Then, Special Agent Bloom came up to them, taking Nick by the elbow. “Mr Vargas, may I have a word?” she asked in a tone that said quite clearly that she was not going to take no for an answer. “There are a few things I would like to clear up with you.”

He followed, curious and apprehensive about what those things might be. Maybe _he_ was in trouble? Alyssa watched them go with badly concealed dislike. He knew she wanted to go home and get out of the building, but also that she was going to stay until she knew how it was all going to play out for him. He didn’t deserve friends like Alyssa. 

“So, Agent Bloom, how can I help you?” he asked, after they had found an empty room. She didn’t answer at first, kept paging through a file she kept shielded from Nick’s sight. 

“I’m aware that the deal you struck with the DA here in Chicago gives you full immunity,” she said, and Nick felt his belly go cold. For his inner eye, he could see himself getting carted off to a federal prison, despite all the promises he’d been given. She must have noticed, because she hurried to say, “No, don’t worry, the agreement still stands. However, we might have to call on your services in the future. You’d be working for us in consulting capacity with full pay of course, but your... unique insight into Frost’s businesses is frankly too valuable to be wasted. I hope you won’t decline.”

It went without saying that if he did decline, the FBI would probably find a way to make him do their bidding anyway. Ah, well. He’d known going in that there would probably be consequences. 

“Anything the bureau needs,” he told her, plastering a fake smile all over his face, while at the same time cursing her existence. Being turned into a lapdog for the feds wasn’t what he’d planned to do with his life. 

“I’m glad to hear it.” She shut the file, nodding at him. “We’ll be in touch, Mr Vargas.”

She left the room and Nick was alone to scratch his head and wonder what new mess he’d just been dragged into. It couldn’t possibly be anything good. 

He didn’t have the energy to worry about that, however. When he came out into the hallway again, he found Leo and Alyssa talking. Leo was looking somewhat wary, and Nick assumed that Alyssa was giving him her own version of the cast iron skillet speech. He definitely did not deserve friends like her. 

When he reached them, they seemed to have come to the agreement that there would be no hurting of anyone’s feelings and no violence towards anyone’s person. Alyssa hugged them both and then left. She had to meet up with Darla and start to clean up the Showroom. Nick and Leo were alone in the hallway. 

Leo had a slightly dazed expression on his face, like he’d been hit with something completely unexpected. 

“So, what was that about?” Nick asked, nodding back towards the conference room. 

Leo blinked. “They’re starting up a task force to deal with criminals with special abilities,” he said. “They want me to lead it.”

“Wow.” Nick took in the information. “That’s good, isn’t it? You’ll get the resources you need to make a difference? Hire more people?”

“I think so.” Leo scratched his neck. He looked like he was reeling a bit too. “It’s still in the talks, but I think all this made the brass realize just how badly prepared we are to handle people like Frost.” He coughed, meeting Nick’s gaze. “I know it’s a lot to ask but... If I get to chose who I want? Will you help? I could really use someone with your talents.”

That wasn’t a surprise. There was only one answer Nick could give, when Leo was asking him like that. “I’ll help if I can. Unless...” he thought back to the brief conversation with Agent Bloom. “I’m not sure, but it’s possible I just became the FBI’s bitch.”

“Yeah?” Leo frowned. “Okay, that... might not be good. Or it could be a pretty awesome opportunity. I’ve heard whispers about crime fighters with special abilities being more sought after around the country. Maybe it’s a start of something.”

“Maybe it is.” Nick grabbed his hand. “Let’s worry about that later.”

Leo agreed. They left the precinct together, heading for the Showroom. Nick had promised that they would drop by to help with the cleaning. Leo’s hand was warm in his, and the connection made it certain to him that it was definitely a start of _something_.


	20. Epilogue

Epilogue

There were more people at Everett’s funeral than Nick could count. Ev had been popular and well liked, both in the community and out of it, and the people who turned up looked like a small army. The coffin was covered in white roses. Everyone who had come had brought one. 

Leo stood beside Nick by the graveside, holding his hand. What they had together was still something new and fragile that they were trying to find their way around, but Nick was incredibly grateful to have him there. 

As the priest said the final words and the coffin was lowered into the ground, Nick couldn’t help but wonder if Everett would have been happy with the way things had turned out. He couldn’t put Ev’s words out of his mind, about how someone was going to step in to take Fabian’s place as king of the hill. No one had tried so far, but there were whispers about several different factions preparing to make a grab for power. Leo was going to have his work cut out for him. 

Alyssa came up to stand beside them. “He left us the Showroom,” she said, turning to Nick. “Did you know that?”

He almost choked on the news. “What, us?”

“No, stupid.” Alyssa poked him in the side with her elbow. “Me and Darla. The bar is ours now.”

“That sounds right,” Leo told her. “You’ll keep it open, won’t you? I think the community needs a place like that.”

“Of course we will. Everett wouldn’t have had it any other way.” She sighed around a smile. “There’s just so much work to do. I’m going to have to learn bookkeeping! Nick, you know how I am with numbers!”

He grinned and patted her shoulder. “Congratulations. You’re a small business owner now. Good luck making it in this economy.”

She stuck out her tongue at him. “You’re making me feel so much better.”

Someone was watching them. Nick looked up and scanned the crowd until he found a pair of people. He didn’t recognize either of them. They were dark clad, just like the rest of the attendants, but they weren’t talking to anyone and Nick doubted they had known Ev. One of them was a dark-haired, dark-skinned woman in a knee-long dark coat. The other was a man, probably a few years younger than her, dressed in a black leather jacket over black jeans. 

“You know those two?” he asked Alyssa, pointing discreetly at the strange pair. 

She glanced over and gave them a once over. “Never seen them before. What do you think?”

Nick shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Why not go and ask them?” Leo said, peering over the crowd. “Or do you think they’re trouble?”

Nick thought about it and decided that if they were, he didn’t want to think about it right now. This day was supposed to be about Everett, about remembering a missed friend and honoring his memory. Everything else would just have to wait until another day. 

“Right now, I don’t care,” he said. He took Leo’s hand and put his arm around Alyssa’s shoulders. “Let’s go.”

They wandered together over the graveyard, made their way between the graves in the snow. Here and there, they stopped to say hi to someone they recognized, to accept condolences, or just chat. 

It seemed that whatever plans and wishes Nick had for the day didn’t matter, however. By the time they were back at parking lot, the two strangers stood waiting by Leo’s new car, another Toyota he’d gotten to replace the one that had been destroyed. 

It didn’t look like it was going to be possible to escape them. Nick let go of Leo and Alyssa and walked ahead of them, figuring that whatever they were here for probably had something to do with him. Fabian’s reach had been long in life, it only figured his death wouldn’t change that.

The woman saw him approach first and stepped forward to greet him. “Mr Vargas,” she said. “We’re very sorry for your loss.”

Now that she was closer, Nick could see that she was absolutely stunning. Her black sleek hair was gleaming in the winter sun, and she had dark brown eyes that it would have been easy to get lost in. She spoke with a faint accent that Nick couldn’t quite place, but he was guessing on Northern Africa. He could see now that she was younger than he’d first thought, maybe somewhere in her mid-twenties, but she carried herself with a confidence and grace that belonged to a much older, more mature woman. 

Her companion was younger, not much more than a kid. He looked to be of Hispanic heritage, his skin a light golden brown, and his hair was a tousled mop of curls on his head. It looked like he’d tried to tame it, but failed. He was staying back, clearly deferring to the woman. 

“Thanks,” Nick said. “I don’t think we’ve met before?”

“We haven’t.” The woman looked deadly serious. Nick thought that she probably wasn’t a person who smiled a lot. “My name is Fatma El-Amin and this is my associate, Javier Dominguez. We work for the Oracle Foundation.”

“Oracle?” Nick frowned, searching his memory to no avail. “I haven’t heard that one before.”

“We prefer to keep a low profile,” she said. “May we have a word? I have some information that I believe you will be interested in. Information concerning Fabian Frost.”

“Oh yeah? Let’s hear it then.”

He glanced back over his shoulder, seeing Leo and Alyssa keeping their distance, but still ready to come to his assistance should it become necessary. 

“You want to know who was behind Frost’s operation, is that correct?” Miss El-Amin lifted a dark eyebrow and the warning alarms immediately started to shriek in the back of Nick’s head. 

“You?” he asked, desperately hoping that they weren’t armed, that they were not here to exact their revenge on him. If they pulled a gun on him at this distance, he wouldn’t have a chance. 

But El-Amin just gave him a half-annoyed look. “Certainly not. We do know who it is and we would like your help to take them down.”

On the other end of the parking lot, a black limousine came creeping forward until it was parked a few feet away. Dominguez walked over and opened the back door, exchanging a few words with someone inside. Then he stepped back, and a man climbed out of the car. 

He was very tall and very handsome, with blond hair in an expensive cut. When he straightened up, Nick could see that he walked with a slight limp and as Nick watched, he leaned back into the car, reaching for a wooden cane with a silver handle. 

The man came walking towards them with Dominguez following a few steps behind. Nick could sense Leo and Alyssa coming closer, moving in to help intercept a possible attack. 

“Mr Vargas,” said Miss El-Amin. “May I introduce you to Mr Quinn?”

The blond man, Mr Quinn, came closer and reached out the hand not holding the cane. He wore black leather gloves. Nick hesitantly took the hand and shook it.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr Vargas,” Quinn said. “I’m very impressed by your performance so far. I believe we might be able to help each other. Can I invite you, Miss Pitts and Officer Harding for a talk?”

He motioned towards the limo. Nick craned his head to peek inside and saw a platinum blonde head. Special Agent Bloom. What the hell? But it seemed like they might have some answers that he desperately needed. 

“Why not?” he said, climbing into the limo.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Potential triggers:  
> *Past abusive relationship where the victim blames himself.  
> *Kidnapping of a child, threaths of experimenting on a child.  
> *A sexual situation that can be interpreted as non-consensual (both parties consent to sex, but one of them has ulterior motives that the other is not aware of prior to the act).  
> *Mentions of past child neglect by an alcoholic parent.


End file.
